Pretty in Pink
by snuggled
Summary: Sequel to Mr. Brightside. Craig finds himself in a bit of a crisis when his younger sister starts hanging out with the Goth kids; but he isn't the only one in a tizzy. Warnings for language and slight sexual content. COMPLETE
1. Prologue

_To anyone reading this right now––  
This is a sequel to my other fic, _Mr. Brightside_. Now it's not required to read it beforehand, although, some of the things in this would really only be understood completely unless you read the other one first. The story is good on its own, but a few things (like Craig's arguments and beef with Thorne) started in the first fic.  
_

_ With that said, please enjoy it, whatever it is you decide to do._

* * *

"Cassie…have you seen my_ Red Racer_ shirt? I thought I put…it…" 

Craig abruptly stopped when he walked into the kitchen. There was something very wrong with this picture… Something very, very wrong…

There was Thorne, sitting at the kitchen table, helping his sister with her math homework. Craig stared at them for a moment before his eyes narrowed. Cassie was laughing, having a grand old time learning how to divide fractions and negative numbers. Thorne was laughing, too, looking at her like a dog looked at a bone–pun intended.

"Cassie. What are you doing? With _him_?!"

Cassie looked up, pale green eyes shining with delight. "James is helping me with my homework, Craig! He was very nice! I was talking with my friend Jessica after school about how I can't understand how to divide fractions and James overheard! He was so_ very_ nice and offered to tutor me!"

Thorne glanced over and winked at Craig real smooth-like, like a sly cat. "Yeah, _Craig_. I'm only helping her with her homework. It's not like we're on a date or anything…"

Cassie laughed and nodded her head. Craig's eyes narrowed further. "You f–" He closed his mouth when Cassie looked at him, eyes brimming with curiosity. "F-Folks have fun…"

Thorne laughed silently and Craig gave him the finger. Cassie just returned it and Craig rolled his eyes, walking out the door. He knew Cassie was a bit crass growing up in their home, but if there was one thing she would _not_ learn before high school, it would be the F-word. At least not by _his_ doing.

"Now then, where were we?"

Cassie giggled and spoke Thorne's name as if she were being tickled and the hair on the back of Craig's neck stood on end as a shiver ran down his spine. There was something way too seductive and sensual about it. He dashed back in, walking in on Thorne and Cassie in a major suck-fest.

------------------------------

Craig screamed, sweat pouring down his forehead as he sat up in his bed. He looked around the room, freaked beyond reason. When he got his bearings straight, Craig relaxed.

It was only a dream. James Cummings would _never_ try something like that. He was a fucker alright, but he wasn't a pedo.

But, just to be sure–

The second he got to school, the Goth kid got a good beating before he even had a chance to flick the bangs from his eyes. Poor kid looked worse off than Kenny, and Kenny had gotten mauled by a bear on the way to school. It jumped in the bus and everything.

Craig was going to make sure those sick Goth kids wouldn't lay a finger on his sister. There was something funny about them–something he didn't like.


	2. Silk

Craig had just walked the dogs–Pitch was a black Labrador and Cocoa, chocolate–when his little sister came dashing in the door. She giggled as she ran past. He looked up, forgetting to stop pouring the dog food into their bowls and the dogs wound up having to eat a third of the bag's contents off the floor.

He knew he was being paranoid, but he had a feeling she had met a boy. He had to admit–he was just a _teensy bit_ over-protective…

Okay, so he ended up making the last boy who came over run home crying–_that didn't make him__** extremely**__ over-protective_. The kid was _obviously_ using the science project as an excuse to get up her skirt.

He tossed the bag onto the ground, leaving the dogs fighting over the contents behind as he walked into the kitchen. "Cassie?"

Cassie poked her head out from behind the refrigerator door. "Yes, Craig?"

"What are you so cheery about?"

Her smile instantly faded. She looked nervous, her pale green eyes darting anywhere but on his face. "Oh, n-nothing… I just… O-One of– Jessie said she'd be coming over tomorrow to help with one of the things our six weeks test will be over… It's a poem…"

Craig raised a brow. "Oh? What's the poem called?"

"Th-The Bells…"

Craig narrowed his eyes, trying to pinpoint why it sounded so familiar. "Isn't that the poem about the two roads and one of them is worn down and the other's overgrown with weeds or something like that?"

Cassie thought for a moment and nodded her head. "Yes. By Robert Frost." She ducked down behind the fridge again and popped back out with a pudding snack. She closed the fridge and went to the silverware drawer, grabbing a spoon.

After a moment, Craig glared. "Wait, no…"

Cassie turned her head and stared at him, eyes wide. "What?"

"That poem's called 'The Road Less Traveled'. 'The Bells' is something else… Who is it _really_ by and why are you hiding it from me?" His eyebrows rose all of a sudden. "You're bringing a _boy_ over, aren't you!?"

She smiled sheepishly, stuffing a spoonful of chocolate pudding into her mouth.

Craig wheeled on her, almost frantic. "Who is it!? What's his name!? It better not be Dougie! That kid is in the eighth grade and is a total– Actually, that's okay. He wouldn't try anything… He probably wouldn't know what to try…"

She rolled her eyes and walked into the living room. "Craig, it's not Dougie. And it's just… Well, it doesn't matter, anyway! He's really nice and is such a gentleman!"

"Cassie…" He lowered his voice, just to be sure. He knew she knew very well that he was wrapped around her finger and that he wouldn't actually do anything, but it didn't hurt to try.

"You couldn't make him leave if you tried! He's got a strong-will and he's very cute! I'm appalled that you'd think of trying to make him leave! You did that to Timothy, and he was so funny!"

"He had problems in math and had a severe obsession with Monty Python and British humor. Nothing good can come from that!"

"It's better than those stupid cartoons you watch! _Red Racer _isn't even all that good! The dubbing's terrible, and all the characters over-dramatize everything! Besides, the animation is _below par_!"

Craig flipped her off and she returned the gesture. "You take that back! _Red Racer_ is a classic! You can't beat the classics! Monty Python is the most retarded thing in the entire world!"

She stuck her tongue out; one of the dogs jumped on the couch and started barking wildly. Craig groaned and decided to leave it alone for a while. Eventually she would see the light of reason–dating was for girls who were married. That was the only proper way for things to be. He had to get to the door–Cocoa only ever jumped on the couch when someone was walking down the driveway.

He grumbled and opened the door. Instead of Clyde or Token or Tweek he was met with the little pale face of Peter, the littlest Goth. He glared down at the boy, sizing him up, looking to see if he was going to try something.

"Yeah? What do you want?"

Peter just handed him a book, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "Cassandra left her textbook at school. She ran off before I could give it back to her… Tell her I'll be over at five tomorrow."

Craig grimaced and Peter looked slightly frightened. "Is five a bad time?"

Craig nodded. "Yes, we'll be eating then."

Peter thought about it for a moment before looking back up at him, hopeful. "Is six alright?"

"Sorry. We have long dinners."

"…Seven?"

"That's when we have dessert. Sorry, Peter. Tomorrow won't be a good time. If you_must_ know, never will be a _great_ time. Why don't you come back then?"

Peter blinked, looking slightly surprised before he stifled a smile and his face went icy. "That's alright. I'll come over with her after school. You aren't eating dinner now, so I suppose that means you won't be eating it tomorrow at this time, either. Nice try, though…"

Craig frowned, tossing the book back at him. He took a step forward, enough so Peter would have to look straight up to look him in the eye. "Listen, you little–"

"Oh! Hi, Peter! Why'd you come over??"

He took a step back as Cassie pushed past him. She cooed, flipping her blonde hair over one shoulder. "Is my brother trying to scare you?"

Peter nodded, bending down and picking up her textbook. "Yes, but he's failing miserably." He handed it to her, and she took it eagerly, hugging it against her chest.

"Well, I'm very sorry he's being such an asshole."

Peter smiled a little. "That's alright. I'm used to dealing with douche bags. Thorne can be quite the ass-monger."

Cassie giggled. "Yeah, he's a weird one…"

Craig stepped in. "How do you know about Thorne??" She blinked, staring at him as if he were crazy. She glanced at Peter, who smiled sheepishly and took a few steps back, waving. He mouthed the word, "Bye," and she waved back, pushing Craig back in the house and shutting the door.

The second it was closed, she wheeled on him.

"For your information, Thorne was the one that suggested Peter come over to my house and help me with understanding that poem. 'The Bells' is by Edgar Allen Poe, and I'm having a very hard time figuring out the symbolism. On the last reading quiz, I completely failed because of that poem. My grade is riding on whether I learn this poem or not. You should be thanking them for offering to help!"

Craig had been backed into a corner, terrified by how angry his little sister had gotten. He wasn't a pussy, but he _was_ a bit soft when it came to his sister. He hated when she was mad at him, and the thought that she'd hate him scared him half to death.

"O-Okay. I'll try to be on my best behavior. But you have to at least let me _try_ to push him out of here. If he's really worthy of being in your presence he should be able to deal with me."

Cassie sat the textbook by the door and cracked her knuckles. "It's _not_ a date! So stop treating every boy that comes near me like a sexual predator!! I can handle myself! Part of growing up is having experiences, and I can't learn on my own with you smothering me!"

She huffed and stormed out of the room and Craig just stood there feeling somewhat guilty. He couldn't help it–she was his little sister. He was supposed to protect her, and all the boys in South Park were complete animals. He knew–he was one of them, after all. And he was _not_ going to be like Kenny and his little sister, Karen. Those two were at each other's throats because Kenny thought she was too slutty for her own good.

Craig would rather _die_ than let _his_ sister turn into a slut.

––––––––––––––––––––

Thorne grunted and shifted his weight off the mailbox. Peter had left, and it sounded like Craig and his little sister were getting into a fight. He glanced at Peter, noticing his moody face…or, moodier than usual.

"You gave her back her textbook, Pete?" Peter nodded, but said nothing. After a while, Thorne sighed. "I still don't see why you like her so much. She's a conforming little bitch…"

Peter shot him a dirty look. "She's not. She's actually more unconventional than you'd think… She acts like one of the girls…but she's really only got one friend at school… She's more crass than the other girls, and they don't really like hanging around her… Most of her friends are boys because she relates to them more…"

Thorne snorted. "_Her_? The one that likes wearing **pink** and glossing her lips? She's_unconventional_? This is Craig's sister we're talking about. He's on the football team–the _football_ team!"

Peter shrugged. "She acts real happy all the time, but sometimes I catch her frowning during lunch or after school… I don't know…she's just not all she appears… It's…interesting…"

Thorne rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't tell me–you think she's going to end up being a Goth in the near future… You know what her brother would _do_ to me if he thought we 'converted' her or some shit like that? He kicked my ass for no reason the other day; what do you think he'd do to me if he found a reason for it?"

Peter frowned. "I'm sorry… I didn't think he'd do something like that…but…weren't you the one that tried to get her to say something to me so that I'd have a little bit of a chance?"

"Yes, because I think you should have a chance. Don't worry about me. You're a good kid. Craig will see that…eventually…" He grimaced, obviously not liking the idea of the next few months…or years…before that. "Either way, you could just say that I have a thing against that douche and I know the only way to get under his skin is through his sister."

"You aren't planning anything…are you?"

"No. I'm just using this opportunity to throw it in his face and make him uncomfortable…" He laughed, making Peter look at him nervously. After a while he just ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Don't worry, Pete. I wouldn't hurt her or anything. I just want to piss off her brother."

* * *

1) _**"The Road Less Traveled", by Robert Frost  
**The poem she described was this one, by Robert Frost. Of course, she ended up lying to him, since it was really "The Bells", which is by Edgar Allen Poe. To be honest, you won't see as much Poe in this story as you did in _Mr. Brightside_ (If you read it, that is)._

2) **_Timothy  
_**_Timothy is actually based off of my own cousin. He has that... I wouldn't call it "dyslexia", but it makes him have trouble in math. So, if he turns over a page, sometimes he sees the numbers all jumbled on the next page. In fact, it was so hardly noticeable, they didn't find out about it until two years ago. He's a big theatre geek, and he wants to be a comedian. (He's funny as HELL, by the way.) And, you guessed it, he likes Monty Python._

3) **_Monty Python  
_**_It's ironic that Craig would say that the classics are the best when he says Monty Python is absolutely retarded. Since, you know, Monty Python IS one of the classics. __  
_


	3. Lace

"_So this is what it's like living on a star?" She queried, looking at the child in front of her._

_His hair was white, his face was white, even his eyes were white. He was clothed in white silk that had been embroidered with silver thread in intricate patterns. His pants faded from blue to black, dotted with silver sequins to look like the night sky. _

_The landscape was gorgeous, coated with the soft, feather-like down of snow. A few trees were scattered here and there, with black trunks grained with purple and pure white leaves. The buildings were purple, and everything had an ethereal quality to it. After all, this was where children came from in this galaxy. She was here to see the Prince of Stars._

_Some said he was impeccably kind and gentle as a lamb, while others said he was as ferocious as a rabid animal. She happened to think it was the first…after all, she was treated with nothing but kindness._

_A girl stepped towards her, her hair pulled back in a deep purple ribbon, her body clothed in a wispy dress. She noticed the girl wasn't wearing shoes. "Oh, Miss… You are so pretty…"_

_Her heart skipped a beat. "Why thank you, little one. That is very kind of you…"_

"**Cassie!** Come on, it's time for dinner. We're having your favorite tonight."

She sat up, pouting. "I–I can't eat right now! I have to do my homework." That was true– she had a bunch of it piled on her desk.

Her brother laughed behind the closed door. "Alright. Just make sure you don't get any bad grades in those other classes. I don't know what I'd do if boys started living here just to help you with your other subjects, Cass."

She giggled as she heard him trod down the steps. After a moment she lay back down, putting her hands behind her head.

"So tomorrow Peter comes to tutor me…"

She blushed.

"Maybe I can entice him to stay and chat after he's finished tutoring with cake… I hope he isn't allergic to chocolate…"

She sighed happily and went back to her daydream.

–––––––––––––––––––

The next day, Thorne was sitting in Geography, bored off his ass. So, he was intent on pissing Craig off again. Miss Caroline had gone off to her desk to grade papers and left the class studying, giving him the perfect opportunity to cause a scene–paper balls.

Henrietta shot Thorne another look as a paper ball went hurtling towards Craig's head. She leaned over to her Goth friend. "Thorne, I don't think it would be wise to do that…"

Thorne ignored her, snickering as Craig glared at him and crushed the paper ball. If Craig was pissed off at _that_, he'd be downright murderous when he saw the picture of Cassie all decked out in Goth clothes inside of it. And she was making out with him, too, trying on her own pair of purple shoes.

After a few moments, the class was continuing in quiet study. However, when a loud scream erupted everyone looked up and gasped. Craig was storming over to Thorne's desk, cracking his knuckles. Henrietta put a hand over her mouth as the football player's fist collided with her friend's jaw.

The teacher looked up, shrieking, but Craig didn't stop. After twenty minutes of savagely beating the Goth kid with everyone watching with surprised expressions, Officer Barbrady and Coach Barnaby, the track coach, came into the classroom.

They pried Craig off of Thorne, who nearly resembled a piece of meat in the blender by this point. Henrietta gasped and nearly shouted at Thorne for being stupid as Coach Barnaby helped the boy to the nurse's office.

"Just a moment, class. I'll be right back."

Miss Caroline stepped out and stormed to the Principal's office to encourage a suspension or, at the very least, a detention while the class erupted in heated whispers. Henrietta gathered her things and ditched, making her way to the nurse's office to figure out why Thorne was being so reckless lately.

–––––––––––––––––––

Light was shining in the window when Thorne opened his eyes groggily. The stench of iodine and gauze assaulted his nostrils and, after focusing his eyes, he noticed Henrietta sitting there next to him.

She was quick to lash out at him.

"Thorne! Honestly, what are you trying to do!? He was going to kill you! Oh, when I figure out what–"

"Pete's got his chance, now."

She stopped, asking for him to repeat it. "Wh-What?"

"If Craig has detention, he can't walk Cassie home and keep Peter away from her."

Henrietta smiled. "Thorne, that is very sweet…" Thorne gave a crooked grin, ignoring how much his face stung, but Henrietta's face hardened again. "But if you _ever_ do something like that again, I will kill you myself. For your information, I wandered past the office on my way over, and Craig has a week of suspension for that little attack. _Suspension_. Today he just has detention since it's so close to the end of the day, but for the next four days he'll be suspended. What will Peter do the next four days?"

Thorne's grin faded. "Oh, shit. Really? Well… I…"

Henrietta nodded. "That's what I thought. You never think these things through. It'd do you good to think before you act…"

After a while Thorne sighed, sitting up a little. "How's Nicholas these days?" Henrietta looked at him quizzically, evident concern on her face. _'Is this really relevant to the current situation?'_ her eyes seemed to say. Thorne rolled his eyes. "This is a change in subject so I can figure out how to help out Peter… I know Nicky doesn't want us talking about it, but we all know he hates going to his father's house every other month. Didn't he get a new wife or something?"

Henrietta nodded. "And his mother's dating again. Her boyfriend's pretty cool, though. Nicholas is actually pleased with this one for once. Geoffrey's a big fan of Blauhaus. Nicholas is ecstatic."

"But his father's new wife?"

"She was a cheerleader in high school and is fresh out of college…"

Thorne rolled his eyes. "Poor son of a bitch…"

"Tell me about it. I'm glad my parents are still married."

–––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jessica put her hand on Cassie's shoulder, petting her best friend's blonde head with her other hand. "Come on, Cass. Craig's going to behave just fine. You'll get through this."

Cassie sighed. "I hope you're right. For once there's some guy genuinely interested in helping me… Peter is such a gentleman, even if he's a year younger than us…"

"Be careful, though. You know if you start hanging out with one of the Goth kids your brother's going to freak. So will all the other girls in class. Things'll be worse off than they are now…"

Cassie pouted. "Should I really care about what they think…? They're all a bunch of perky bitches anyway… If there's one thing my brother's _right_ about, it's that I shouldn't hang around shallow girls like that…"

Jessica patted her on the shoulder as Peter walked up, staring at the ground in front of him. "Well, best of luck!" Cassie smiled, turning to the little Goth boy.

"Hi, Peter. Should we get going?"

Peter just nodded, looking around anxiously for Thorne. He couldn't do it without some sort of encouragement. He just couldn't. He was too shy for something like this.

His worries melted away when she grabbed his hand and started dragging him down the steps of the school building. "Come on! We should get home before Craig does, or else he'll be all over you like a moth to a flame!"

He could worry later. Right now, he had enough encouragement on her part to get there without breaking down.

––––––––––––––––

"That's weird… Pitch and Cocoa haven't been walked yet… Craig's usually home by now since he gets let out earlier than we do… I'll bet he has detention again…" Her green eyes flashed onto Peter's shoe-gazed face momentarily. "Um, Peter…I'm terribly sorry to ask this of you, but would you mind helping me walk my dogs?"

Peter looked up, big hazel eyes practically glowing with delight. "N-Not at all…"

Cassie giggled, pointing to the couch. "Alright, you can put your bag down there and come here so they can get used to you…"

Peter placed his book bag on the couch and went over to the dogs. Cocoa nearly jumped on him in her excitement and Pitch began to bark violently. A swift smack to the nose from Cassie stopped his howling, and a yank on the tail caused Cocoa to yelp and jump back.

To most it would be considered animal abuse, but in the Harris household it was considered kind.

* * *

1) _**Blauhaus  
**_

_Yes. Blauhaus. Any of you watch the Raisins episode? (Of course you did. If you liked the Goth Kids enough to read a fanfic about them, you've probably gone out of your way to watch it at least two or three times.) Yeah, on the back of Henrietta's door there was a Bauhaus poster; however, Stone and Parker added an L in there. Hence, Blauhaus was a parody of Bauhaus, probably one of _the _big "Goth" bands. Almost every song has to do with death in some way, shape or form. Speaking of Henrietta's wall, did any of you notice how she talked about how her parents wouldn't let her go to the Skinny Puppy concert, yet the Skinny Puppy poster on her wall said SkiPPy Puppy? HA. Yes. Oh yeah, and something bothered me after I was going back and reading _Mr. Brightside_. - I wrote this, describing Henrietta: __"_She likes Skinny Puppy, as mentioned in the show, which is a relatively new band._" Now, I have NO idea what crack I was smoking, but they're _not_ relatively new. I guess I must've been thinking of Nine Inch Nails or something. _However_, the fact that she had that skull-cat pillow in her room pretty much says she's been to Hot Topic, and Hot Topic is _definitely _one of the whole "modern" Goth shops._

_ In short, whenever I mention the bands the Goth kids like, in the South Park universe that is, I say Blauhaus instead of Bauhaus. Why? Because I'm weird like that. (Plus Blauhaus just makes me giggle.)_

2) _**Cocoa  
**Heh heh. When I was little, there was a guy on the end of my street that had two dogs. (He got married, and his step-daughter grew up into a real BITCH. D:/ ) One of them was a Lab-Doberman mix, and the other one was some other kind of mix that had to include a sheepdog or something. The male's name was Spuds, and the female (the Lab-Doberman mix, which was a chocolate colour) was named Cocoa. So, I added in a little piece of my childhood in there. Huzzah.  
_


	4. Chiffon

"Isn't it a nice day out?" Her smile broke the happy meter, and she looked so blissful Peter began to wonder if drugs were involved.

He looked up at the sky, overcast with snow clouds; it was grey outside–a very non-nice, bleak day. How she found it pleasant was beyond him… "I think it looks more dreary, today…"

She looked at him and smiled. "Everyday can be pleasant if you look at it the right way; for instance, with the weather like this, I don't have to worry about getting a sunburn–there's too many clouds. And the way the world looks grey makes people pop out! You can see life much more easier on days like this."

He smiled, cheeks flushing pink. "You're right…"

She laughed and looked down at Cocoa. "Anyway, I'm glad you went out of your way to help me understand a simple poem. I can be a bit slow sometimes. I think I get stupidity from my dad, or at least that's what my mother would say." She laughed.

"I don't think you're stupid… I think there's more to you than you let on…"

She looked over to see him staring at the ground, his face bright red. A sad smile crossed her face and she looked away.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Would you say you're happy? …You don't have to lie to me… I won't think less of you…"

"I am, but I'm not. It's like…"

She stopped in mid-stride and looked at the ground, searching for words. He stopped and looked at her, a mildly curious look on his face. She huffed and threw a hand in the air.

"I'm _very_ happy, but it's like it covers things up, even for me. I don't dwell on pain much. I lose myself in music and fairytales, instead… I guess what I mean is…it's a sad kind of happiness…" She laughed. "Although you probably think I'm some kind of moron with small problems that aren't worth suffering over."

"…Is that really what you think all Goths think like? I don't think that at all… Even it it's over something small and insignificant…pain is still pain… I mean…my friends might think that of you…but I don't…"

She looked at him smiled. "Thank you… I'm sorry if I offended you… We should probably get back."

When they got back, her parents' cars were in the driveway. "They're early…" She looked up and said the F-word. "Craig's probably got a suspension this time… I don't think…" She winced and looked at him. "Could you come over tomorrow instead?"

"Why not now?"

"My parents get mad and make a racket. I've learned to tune it out, but you might get distracted…"

He looked slightly frightened. "N-No… I–I won't get distracted… I just want to…" He trailed off, his cheeks turning pink.

She looked at him, delightfully curious. "Just what?"

"I…I just want to try and see if we can get anything done…"

She laughed. "Alright, but you're kind of digging your own grave, here…"

He smiled a little and she walked to the backyard to let the dogs off their leashes. They immediately began to bark, but she ignored them and left them jumping at the sliding back door in a frenzy.

She sighed and walked to the front door after closing the gate; he followed her. As she opened the door, muffled voices turned to shouts and screams as the tense quiet became shattered by the chaos within.

"What were you thinking, Craig!? You're turning into your father and I won't–"

"What's wrong with how I am!? I've got character!"

"You're a violent bastard and your son is turning out to be just like you!"

"Well, it's nice to see where he gets his bitchy whining from, Nicole!"

"Don't you _ever_ call me a bitch in front of my own children, Thomas."

Peter flinched a little and Cassie patted his shoulder, turning to look at her brother on the couch. He looked worn out. Her parents exchanged the finger and Craig returned it behind their backs as he sneered.

Cassie's voice was not quite loud; it was more like a weak cry. "Mom… Could I take a friend to my room to study?" However, her voice was lost to their bickering.

"Why are you yelling at _me_, Nicole!? This is about your son!"

"**My **son!? He's just as much mine as he is _yours_!!"

"The kid still hasn't said why he beat up the Cummings boy! Maybe he had a good reason! Didja ever think of that, or did you decide to just go flying off the handle because you could!?"

"That's just it, Thomas! There's _never_ a good reason for resorting to violence! Do you _realize_ what he did!?"

"M-Mom…? …Dad…?"

"Yes I do, Nicole! He nearly killed the boy! I personally think that little bat freak deserved it, too! Gave him a taste of what he practically lusts after! He was due for a severe wake-up call!" This earned her father a smirk from Craig that went unnoticed, and he continued to rant. "Did you know there's _more_ of them!? He runs around with a gang! Our son beat up a drug-crazed gang member! I say he deserves a medal!"

"What did you say!? The Cummings boy is only _fourteen_, Thomas! It was completely unprovoked and he didn't deserve it!"

Before Craig's father could retort, her brother stood up. "It _was_ provoked, Mom! I have the fucking letter he gave to me to prove it!"

She wheeled on him. "Don't use that language in this house, mister!"

He just gave an exasperated whine. "Will you just _look_ at what he drew!? He drew himself making out with Cassie! He drew him turning her into one of them! He's already told me he wants up her skirt! He's a sick, selfish fuckhead, Mom!"

His mother looked at the crumpled piece of paper and glared. "Well, _Craig_, he's _obviously_ trying to provoke you! You shouldn't respond to kids like him! Besides, your sister can take care of herself. She's got the good part of your father in her; she's resourceful."

Craig sighed and fell back into the couch. "That's where you _don't_ get it, Mom. You completely ignored her when she didn't want to go to school in the second grade. You didn't even ask her why. She gets enough shit at school from the kids she _knows_. She doesn't need anymore from the kids she's never even heard of…"

His face tightened and he stood up again, suddenly zealous. "And you know _why_ I'm beating them up!? Because I'm doing _your_ fucking jobs in the only way I know how! None of you actually talk to her! You aren't being her parents! You guys _still_ need to–"

"Craig…"

He blinked and halted at the sound of his name from exasperated, sad lips. Three pairs of eyes suddenly snapped to Cassie, suddenly aware of her presence. His face softened when he noticed the sad look on her face.

She just sighed and gave him the finger. "I brought Peter over today to help me study. He's really shy, so I'd appreciate if you didn't scare him off. Please stop fighting while he's here."

With that, she grabbed the younger boy's hand and dragged him up the steps and into her room. Once there, she slammed the door behind them and threw herself onto her bed, giving an aggravated groan.

After only a few minutes of sitting in her desk chair, Peter noticed she was staring at the floor on the opposite side of the room. Her eyes were misty, as if she were about to start crying.

"C-Cassandra?"

Her voice was soft and sad. "My name is _Cassie_. My parents named me Cassie, and it's not short for anything…"

He just stared at her until she finally turned and looked at him, smiling sadly.

"Thorne doesn't mean it, right? About making me one of you?"

"I think…he was just trying to irritate Craig. He thinks you're too…girly for his tastes and would prefer you to not join us, actually.

The smile on her face brightened. "Do _you_ think I'm girly…?"

His face turned bright red and he looked away. "T-T-To a point… You're not sickeningly girly…b-b-but you d-do have a girlish charm…"

She smiled. "I'm glad… In the second grade I was made fun of for being so boyish. All the girls said my parents messed up and made a girl instead of a boy…"

"I know. I saw it… I skipped first grade and kids made fun of me for it… I sometimes wanted to talk to you, but I never worked up the courage…" He blushed even more. "I…I actually liked you for a long time…"

She blinked, eyes curious. "Do you still like me?"

"_Cassie!"_

Her head snapped up and she groaned as her daydream ended. "What is it, Mom!?" She flipped off the door, not really caring at this moment for dinner.

"Don't just act like nothing happened! Come out here and talk about it!"

_Peter had walked off when she said he should come back the next day, so she was all alone in the midst of her parents screaming at each other and at her brother. _

_They were shouting–all of them–yelling and yelling and yelling. Oh, it was making her head pound. It wasn't even intelligent enough of an argument–just harsh words and noise, noise, noise. Loud, blaring noise that kept pounding into her ears, but that was normal for this household. They yelled–their family was one big scream, really._

_But that wasn't the problem–she could hear them, hear what they were shouting. They were yelling at Craig, Crag was yelling at them about her. Finally everything was about her and the Goth kids, how they were evil little children intent on making her join their cult._

_That was Peter they were calling evil…kind, gentle, shy Peter. She could feel the tears forming, feel them sliding down her cheek, feel them dripping from her chin. Craig was the first to notice her sobs; instead of softening he shouted at his own selfishness and kicked over a vase by the door before attempting to comfort her._

_The second his hands went to her cheeks, she pushed them away. "Get the hell away from me! You don't get it, do you!? You're just… Just shut up about them! You don't know how they're like and they haven't done anything to deserve you all talking about them like that! They sound nice; Peter's nice and I don't know why you're being such an asshole about him or his friends! I hate you, Craig! I really hate you! You can just go to hell for all I care!"_

_She sobbed and ran up the stairs, locking herself in her room._

"Cassie! _Cassie_!! Come out here, young lady!!!"

Even now she could feel the tears running down her cheeks. She wanted it to go away. She wanted everything to go away. She didn't want to face reality; she didn't want to have her parents staring at her with those angry looks.

"Mom… It's okay… Yelling at her won't help anything…"

"But she–"

"She's only eleven. Besides, I can't blame her. She has every right to hate me. I _was_ being a major asshole."

"Ah, Craig… You… Well, I suppose you're right…but please, _please_ stop acting like a parent. You don't have to act anymore because we'll handle it."

He scoffed a little. "Will you? Will you _really_? Are you _capable_ of being parents?"

She started pacing down the steps. "You might as well stay up in your room with no dinner if you're going to give me _that_ attitude, you little shit. Your father and I will punish you more severely later. Just go to your room and think about why we don't want you talking to us like that."

Cassie sniffled as more tears started flowing down her cheeks. She heard her mother yelling at her husband about what their son just said to her and how he raised him to be a total dickhead, and she figured it was now or never to make amends with her brother.

She jumped up and threw open the door.

"I didn't mean it! I don't hate you…"

Craig blinked at her, looking surprised and slightly relieved. She sniffled, her voice growing more high-pitched and desperate. "Y-You know I didn't mean it, r-right??"

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "I know you didn't sis. Don't cry anymore, okay? I'll stop being an asshole as long as you stop crying…"


	5. Prada

She peeked into her brother's room in the morning and smiled. "Oh, good! You're awake, Craig!"

He was sitting up in bed, eyes half-closed, mumbling something about football practice being too freakin' early in the morning. She didn't seem to notice and went to his side, giving him a hug.

"Be sure you dress nice before Peter comes over. You've already made a bad impression–I don't want you making it worse by wearing your boxers around the house again."

He nodded a little and mumbled something along the lines of, "Alright, Coach." And she took that to mean he understood.

As she dashed out the door, he shuffled up and began his morning walk to the kitchen, hitting the wall three times on his way out the bedroom door.

––––––––––––––––––

Jessica frowned and pointed at her with the pencil she was biting on. "So you made up and everything, I hope. Your brother knows you don't hate him, right?"

Cassie nodded and pulled down on her skirt, stomping her feet a little. She shivered lightly. "The weatherman said it would be warm enough today. I can't believe it."

Jessica just rolled her eyes. "You were never one to be observant, Cas. He said _tomorrow_ would be warm enough to wear shorts. The freak heat wave doesn't hit until tomorrow at noon, so I wouldn't get your hopes up tomorrow, either…"

"Well, whatever. I just hope Peter gets his ass over here so I can go home and put on some nice wool socks…"

The door burst open behind them and a girl with sandy blonde hair traipsed down the school steps followed by a group of giggling girls. Jessica jumped up, sighing lightly. "Well, that's my cue. See you later, Cas. Hope everything works out today."

Peter walked out the front door of the school, flipping through some papers in his hand. Cassie stood up and looked at him, smiling. The papers looked relatively important, but she could have cared less.

"Peter…"

He nearly jumped and the papers came falling from his hand, scattering all over the ground. The wind picked up and he let out a yelp. Cassie gasped and crouched down with him, helping him pick them up. One paper started blowing off and he reached for it, but his arm was too short.

His heart sank as he realized it would blow away, until the blonde beside him bounced a little, falling over and grabbing it just in time. She winced a little and handed him the paper, gritting her teeth. He looked her over, noticing she scraped her knee.

"Cassandra, your knee…"

She grinned a little and stood up. "It's okay! I've gotten worse injuries than this!"

He stood up and smiled a little. "Oh, okay. That's good…but you should still wash the wound and put a band-aid on it when you get home. It could get infected."

She laughed. "I know, I know. Now, come on! Let's go. You got all your papers?" He nodded and she grabbed his hand quickly, before she could chicken out of it, and stormed off, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach.

–––––––––––––––––

She opened the front door, her smile widening. "Okay, Peter, you can put your bag down by the wall over there. Do you want anything to drink? We also have chocolate pudding snacks…"

He glanced up at her, nodding a little. "Yes, please." He put his bag down and opened it up, slipping the papers inside. He wouldn't even need his textbook. She had hers and he practically knew the poem by heart.

She turned the corner to what appeared to be the kitchen and he followed her. Before he could even walk through the door frame she screamed. "Craig!! Peter's over here and– Augh!! Go upstairs and put some clothes on!"

Peter blinked and stared at the shirtless boy sitting at the table, eating quite a few pudding snacks. Cassie glared and opened the fridge. Another scream erupted from her throat, and she slammed the door. "Craig!! You ate all the pudding snacks, you pig! I was hoping we could have a snack after school and you went and spoiled that, too!"

He blinked, his face all too innocent to be sincere. "Did I really? Ah, geez, sis…I didn't know… I'm _so_ sorry…"

She glared and hit her forehead, turning to Peter. "I'm so sorry about this…" He was about to tell her there was no need to apologize, but she turned back around to her brother. "And I suppose you drank all the _milk_, too!?"

He smiled a little, holding his hands up casually. "Guilty as charged."

She gave an aggravated scream and he stood up, showing off his silk boxers with rubber ducks on them. Peter blinked, staring at them. He looked away quickly and Craig snapped his attention back onto him with a thundering shout.

"Hey, batboy! Never seen a guy's body before or are you just gay?" The little Goth narrowed his eyes indignantly and Craig turned around, smacking his left ass cheek with his hand and winking. "Take a picture, kid. It'll last longer and keep you company on lonely dark nights."

Cassie gasped. "Craig! How _dare_ you talk to him like that! Be more considerate, damn it!"

Peter just smiled and shrugged his shoulder indifferently, glancing out the window. "Sorry. I couldn't sell pictures of your flabby ass to even the horniest of girls, so there's really no need to do that…"

Craig glared, taking a step forward. "What did you say about my ass, you little fu–"

Cassie pushed Peter out the door. "Come on, Peter! We should really get to work now!" As he was stumbling up the stairs, she turned around and flipped her brother off. He just grinned and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, "It's in my nature. I can't help it;" although she knew he definitely could if he wanted to.

––––––––––––––

Cassie sighed and sat down on her bed, rubbing her temples to stop the onset of a head-ache. Peter just looked around the room, trying to see something that would leave clues at how she was underneath that happy exterior. There had to be something…

Her room was decorated with fairies and unicorns, castles and dragons and heroic knights on horseback. There were numerous posters on the wall, most of which looked promising: _The Last Unicorn_; _Stardust_; _Enchanted _(though it was a Disney movie) Jim Henson's_ Labyrinth;_ _Troll_;_ Pan's Labyrinth_; and_ The Fountain_.

She also liked Disney… Nicholas would laugh at him for that one. He smiled a little at the old collectibles she had on her shelf, though–an old VHS of _The Last Unicorn_, and _really_ old VHS tapes, with titles like _The Secret of NIMH_ and the cartoon versions of _The Lord of the Rings_ trilogy and _The Hobbit_.

He scanned her bookcase and his heart nearly stopped–Vertigo comics by Neil Gaiman. Henrietta and Thorne collected those like crazy; Thorne especially. Maybe he'd have a chance with her. He might _just_ have a chance with her…

"Do you like comic books?"

He turned his head and blinked, forgetting to speak. She smiled, repeated her question.

"I said…'Do you like comic books?'"

He cleared his throat and shook his head. "N-No…I'm not too big on popular culture…but I was just noticing how you collect comics written by Neil Gaiman…"

She laughed. "Duh. He's a fantasy genius, especially his novels. He wrote Stardust… That's my _favorite_…"

"He's also the greatest Gothic comic writer of all time…"

She shrugged. "That's a matter of opinion, though, isn't it? Can you really say something is Gothic? I mean, I'm sure you can label something as Gothic, but even then lots of people's opinions differ on what _is_ 'Goth', right? All I know is I like a good fairytale. I don't bother caring whether or not something is a certain label or not…"

Peter looked at her quizzically. "You say you don't care if something is 'Gothic' or not, but you know so much about Goth subculture…"

Cassie laughed. "Hardly! I only know what Jessie tells me."

Peter thought it over. Jessica was probably one of the giggliest of all the girls in their classes. She practically oozed 'preppy'. How could she _possibly_ know anything about Goth subculture?

He stared at the comics numbly, unsure of what to say. Cassie cleared her throat. "Were you_ expecting_ me to be some major closet Goth with skulls and black littering my floor and dripping from the walls?"

Peter thought about it for a while. Did he? He knew he suspected her of being _unconventional_, but a closet _Goth_? That was highly unlikely… So why was he so interested in her? If he were interested in anyone, it should be _Jessica_ after what Cassie just said…

"No… I'm not…"

Cassie stared at him for a while. "You're not what?"

His cheeks flushed pink and he looked up at her quickly before looking away. "I'm not interested in…"

The silence was thick after he trailed off until a loud knock on the door made both of them nearly jump out of their skin. Craig's voice came hollering from the other side.

"Ah, Cas! You have to come see this! I just dropped a huge load and I swear it looks _just_ like General Bison's face!"

Peter's eye twitched and his eyebrows raised, completely unaware of what the hell was so great about it or who the hell this Bison guy was… Did he chew off someone's ear or something? How was a piece of shit that looked like him important at all?

"Shut the hell up, Craig! Peter's not even bothered by you, so you can cut the act and leave us alone!"

Craig groaned on the other side of the door and walked away.

Cassie sighed, giving the door the finger, and looked over at Peter. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot what we were talking about…"

Peter looked away. "Um… It's…It's really not important…"

"Okay, but you seemed pretty unnerved by it… Cheer up, okay?"

He looked up suddenly, completely caught off guard by those words. She was smiling warmly and he felt warmth spreading through his chest, making him feel like smiling, too. So he did.

Her eyebrows rose and her smile widened. "Wow, Peter, you should smile more often!" She laughed and his cheeks turned red and he curled up a little, his smile widening. He couldn't help it. He was having such an **off** day today. He was spacey, he was smiling, he was just…_happy_.

Sure he was happy with his friends, but he'd never felt _this_ happy before in his life.

His friends…

His smile faded and his mouth blurted out the first words that popped into his head.

"Would you like to meet my friends tomorrow? We could hang out with them… It would be fun…"

Cassie blinked. "R-Really?" She sat up, grinning widely. "Sure! That sounds great."

Peter paused, putting a hand over his heart. His head was swimming, and he felt so confused. Weren't they supposed to be _studying_? He needed to be more focused… He needed to be…

He needed to be…

What did he need to be doing?? He couldn't think properly anymore!

* * *

1) **_Craig's Boxers  
_**_I had a friend in high school that wore these. It was hilarious; we'd hang out after I got out of dance class and he got out of gym; we'd sit outside the locker rooms and just goof off until the bell rang. I can still remember_ _the time that he mentioned he had silk boxers on. I glanced at him and laughed, saying, "What are you talking about?" And he said, "They have rubber duckies on them." And then he asked me if I wanted to SEE them. Being the moron I was, I said yes. He stood up and pulled on the waistband of his boxers, so they were hanging out of his jeans practically. (He didn't remove his pants, and he didn't take them OFF, seeing as he wasn't that talented; he just pulled them up above the waistband on his jeans, which wasn't too difficult since he wore the atypical your-mama-switched-your-jeans-out-with-your-dad's-pair look.) I stared at them for a really long time, because they were the most AMAZING pair of boxers I'd ever seen. I mean, I still can't imagine that people actually MAKE boxers with really childish things on them. Well, since I was still staring, he snorted and said, "Take a picture and it'll keep you company at night." Which is why Craig also says what he says._

2) **_Movie Posters_  
**_Some of them aren't what you'd consider to be "Goth", like _The Last Unicorn, Stardust, Labyrinth_ (Can you say David Bowie?), etc. However, the movies _Pan's Labyrinth, Troll, _and_ The Fountain_ have dark themes, or themes that would be considered a bit "Gothic". In the movie _Troll_ (here's a fun fact), the lead character is a girl who gets possessed by a troll, and it begins to take over the apartment complex and make it into a fairy tale dimension and shit. Get this -- her brother's name is Harry Potter. (Ha ha. You only get one fun fact per chapter, if at all.) In _The Fountain_, it tells the story of a man who is immortal and he goes through the ages chasing after his wife in all of her different reincarnations so they can still be together. Now, the message is a bit different from what one would consider "Gothic", but the whole theme of immortality and reincarnation and shit like that is an element that could make the movie "Gothic"._

3) _**VHS Tapes  
**Okay, I'm well aware of the fact that _The Last Unicorn_ and _The Secret of NIMH_ came out after the others, so don't go telling me my mistake. I think the reason I bring these up is for the fact that I fell in love with these movies when I was a kid. (Minus _The Last Unicorn_; I never watched it back then.) _The Secret of NIMH _definitely has some dark themes in it, and the atmosphere beneath the rose bush and in the Great Owl's tree is very dark, which, while you couldn't consider it "Gothic", you could certainly have it grouped in the same sort of realm, I guess you could say. The other thing about it is the fact that it was broken off of Disney, which was a good thing. Oh, damn. I forgot to put _Watership Down_ in there. That was another good one. Anyway, about _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ trilogy -- These were my first exposure to J.R.R. Tolkien. And to be honest, the goblins and orcs in this movie scared the willies out of me as a child. They were still awesome, so there._

4) _**Neil Gaiman  
**Go look him up. I'm too tired to mention all of the things he's done. He does write children's books and fantasy novels, but it's the comics that would be considered Gothic. With characters like Death, an entity that maintains exactly what her name suggests and also has a look echoing Siouxsie, from Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Creatures, it's pretty obvious his comics have Gothic themes. So...yeah. That's pretty much it. If you want to learn more about him (which I doubt any of you do), just look him up on the Encyclopedia Gothica. While you're at it, look him up on Wikipedia. That gives a much better overview of EVERYTHING he does, not just the Gothic crap._

5) **_General Bison  
_**_Craig is a Street Fighter fan. That's really all I can say. (Check out the Street Fighter movie. Raúl Juliá plays Bison.) __And, for your information, Craig was lying about the shit that looked like Bison's face. He was being an asshole. And I am not implying that __Raúl Juliá looks like shit. When I made Craig say that, I meant General Bison in the GAME, not the MOVIE. But still, __Juliá does an excellent job in that movie and you should go watch it._

6) _**Bison? Ear? What the Hell?**  
Bison. Tyson. Mike Tyson. I made a joke. Laugh, damn it. _

6) _**Cassie's name  
**I think this chapter would be the best place to mention her name. Well, if you consider the fact that Peter calls her Cassandra, and the fact that in Cassie's daydream she tells him it doesn't stand for anything, that it's just Cassie, that means that's just how it is. Peter calls her Cassandra because he feels that Cassie sounds too "familiar" and he's shy. Since that IS her full name, the meaning of it is also ironic. (Especially for the last part of this chapter.) Cassie is a Greek name. (Think Cassiopeia, which is often shortened to Cas, Cassie's nickname in this story.) It literally means "She who entangles men". Basically: "She who confuses men". And, in Peter's case, she really does confuse him. _


	6. Fishnet

It was after school–Jessica waved to Cassie and dashed off like she always did–; however, Cassie was watching Peter: He was talking to his purple-shoed friend, who looked much more banged up than he did when she first saw him and he mentioned that Peter should tutor her. Any moment, Peter would approach her like he always did.

But it wasn't Peter who approached her this time–it was James Cummings, the very same her brother beat the shit out of.

"Listen here, Lollipop, I go by Thorne. Call me by my real name and you'll get harassed like your brother. Got it?"

She smiled. "Thorne… It has a nice sound… That's the same name of a wood elf in this one book I'm rea…ding…" Her voice faltered when he gave her a disgusted look.

"And let's hope you don't make a habit of hanging out with us…"

She frowned and glanced over at Peter uncomfortably. His friends didn't seem to like her very much… He was glaring at Thorne, so it made her feel a _little_ bit better. She glanced over at Thorne. "I'm sorry if my brother hurt you real bad…"

He grinned. "Nah, I'm fine! A black eye, a few bruised ribs and shattered teeth aren't too bad. And the bruised lung really reminds me why I provoked him in the first place."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"You mean you don't know yet? Didn't Peter tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

He glanced over at Peter, who shook his head and eyed the ground. He turned back to Cassie and bent down so he was eye level with her. "I like provoking people and giving them a hard time. Plus I'm pissed off that he called me by my fucking name. Don't make the same mistake he did, Lollipop. Okay?"

She nodded and he stood up, grabbing her and Peter's hand. "Good, now let's get going."

––––––––––––––

They entered a dark room with candles on the windowsill, a bit too close to the black drapes over the windows to be safe. Crucifixes were everywhere, as were skulls. There was a Blauhaus poster on the door and a few other posters of bands she'd never even heard of dotting the walls. What kind of band name was Skinny Puppy?

Thorne opened his arms wide and bowed to his friends. "And now I present the Lollipop Princess!"

He winked at her and she just shifted uncomfortably. Was he making fun of her? It really seemed like he was…

However, she _couldn't_ let that get her down. Instead, she turned to the other two occupants. One was male–tall, curly-haired, leaning against the wall and bobbing his head lightly to a beat–and the other was female–paler than pale, with shoulder-length black hair, sitting on a bed and petting a cat. From what Cassie could see, she was wearing a deep green corset. Her lips were painted up in black lipstick, her nails in black polish. She was wearing an assortment of rings, and she had studs in her ears.

"That's a thousand for pictures and ten for gawking, dear."

Cassie's face flushed with hurt and embarrassment and she turned her face before she could take notice of the smile gracing the girl's lips.

"Oh, don't worry. I was making a joke. The name's Henrietta and it's a pleasure to meet you. Finally."

Cassie blinked. "What do you mean by finally?"

Henrietta glanced at Thorne, then at Peter. "Oh…baby bat…you skipped a step!"

Peter sighed. "I'm s-sorry… I just…got so…embarrassed all of a sudden and I asked her without thinking…"

Cassie glanced over at the door. "You guys aren't _really_ trying convert me like Thorne keeps telling my brother, are you?"

The one leaning on the wall chuckled. "Convert you? How could we _possibly_ do that? We aren't a fucking religion, and we aren't a cult. Peter's genuinely interested in getting to know you and he's been talking about you to us for advice on how to approach you…"

Henrietta sighed as Peter turned beet red and looked at the floor. "Nicholas, you've gone and embarrassed baby bat…again."

Cassie looked around at all of them, then back at Peter. "If that's true, then I'm glad. I want to be your friend, too…" Henrietta smiled as if she knew an inside joke that just got brought up, while Thorne and Nicholas just gave her icy stares. She bit her lip nervously and stuttered. "D-Did I…not pass?"

Henrietta's attention piqued at this, and a sly smile crossed her lips. "Pass what, Lollipop?"

"The…test… Why else would I be meeting you all?"

Henrietta and Nicholas exchanged glances. Nicholas smirked with her and patted Peter on the head. "Good pick, Peter. She's perceptive." He turned back to the blonde, face like ice once more. "Actually, we wanted to know if some of the things he said were true…"

Thorne looked enthusiastic as he practically bounced over to where she was, grabbing her pigtails. "Is it true you read comic books? I'm a huge fan of comics!"

Cassie smiled, her eyes alight with interest. "Yes. What kind do you read?"

He waved his hand casually, twirling her pigtails a little. "Oh, you know, the only ones worth reading–Spawn or anything published under the Vertigo and Dark Horse Comics label, like The Sandman and Hellboy. I also like practically everything Frank Miller creates. Pete said you were a collector of Neil Gaiman's fantasy works… Is that true, too?"

She nodded. "Yes! His are the best, without question! His novels are amazing, too! Everything he does is wonderful!" She laughed a little, her voice ringing out clear and melodic, like little bells.

Thorne looked at Henrietta and Nicholas, pointing at the blonde beside him who was practically sparkling by this point, with a big grin on his face, as if trying to coax them into something. Then he composed himself and turned to Peter, his smile becoming firm, more solemn.

"Well, Pete, you sure do pick them… You're right. More than meets the eye. I'm sold. Even if she does have that creepy obsession with fairy tales…"

Cassie looked a bit puzzled and found her gaze drifting to Henrietta, who seemed to be the only one that seemed to really _look at her_, besides Peter. She was practically beaming, even. After a moment, the older girl pursed her lips and motioned Cassie over to the bed with her index finger.

"Come here, Lollipop. You see…" She played with one of the girl's curls as she spoke, music on her voice. "It may seem like we're trying to suck you into this dark world and convert you…. But the _truth_ is…" She poked Cassie right on the nose, giving her a warm smile. "I wanted Peter to bring you here to convert _us_."

She turned Cassie around to face Nicholas, hugging her a little and resting her head on the girl's arm. "_That_ one in particular… He's a tricky one, and he's been nothing but negative towards our poor little baby bat and his lollipop friend…"

Nicholas just sneered, shifting his weight and walking toward the door.

"Now, Now, Nicky. You told me you'd give her a chance."

He grimaced and turned to face the little girl, looking her over for the fourteenth time with an upturned nose: her blonde pigtails and glossed lips; those pink Mary Jane's and white leggings; that pleated plaid skirt and white laced blouse with a pink tank top over it, and that sickeningly sparkly pink star pendant dangling from her neck.

The girl even had on a headband with _pigtails_, for Christ's sake! She didn't have any bangs to pull back, so what was the point of a headband!?

He glared. "I will_ never_ like her. _Ever._"

Cassie turned red and glanced at Henrietta, who seemed to be the main leader, with Nicholas trailing at a close second. "I-It's alright. He doesn't have to like me. As long as I can still be Peter's friend…"

Nicholas rolled his eyes at the dirty looks Henrietta was giving him. "Fine? You want me to _try_? Fine. Here we go." He turned to Cassie, making her jump with his curt voice. "You, _Pinky_, what's your favorite band?"

"…Mika. Oh, and The Beatles…"

He grimaced, giving Henrietta a look of resentment. "I blame you for bringing this abomination into our midst, you harpy woman."

Henrietta sighed, chuckling a little. "Alright, Nicky. You can go outside and have a smoke…"

As he dashed out the door, the cat went trailing out the door, yowling with hunger. Henrietta and Thorne exchanged amused glances and Henrietta tossed a pack of cigarettes to Cassie. "Ah. He's the only one of us that can stand this brand, and if he doesn't have them he goes crazy. This should be fun to watch."

Thorne snickered. "Like giving a shark the scent of blood, my friend." He walked over and grabbed the pack from Cassie's hands. "He'll never suspect _you_. You wear a training bra yet? Because if you don't, you probably won't like this." He stuffed it down her shirt and she twitched, the pack staying there snug in her bra.

Peter glared, kicking him in the back of the leg. Thorne just rolled his eyes after a half-hearted wince. "Just think of this as an initiation! She has assisted in pissing off Mr. High-and-Mighty." Peter looked slightly worried, rather than amused.

"Yeah…that's what I'm afraid of…"

The door slammed open and Nicholas stalked back into the room, glaring at Henrietta. "I_ know_ it was you. I saw you rummaging through my coat an hour ago." Peter took a few steps toward the bed, toward Cassie, eyeing Nicholas anxiously.

Henrietta shrugged. "You shouldn't have given me the opportunity."

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, his voice low and enraged. "You _seduced_ me, you fucking _harpy_! It's not like I go around throwing my coat off for just any whim!"

Henrietta's lips curled into an even slyer smile. "I can't help it if you're too easy. 'Sides…" She titled her head and gave him a cocky wink. "You're fun to mess with."

He whirled around to meet Thorne's eyes. "So that leaves _you_! You're in on it, too! You _always_ are! Give me my cigarettes before I fucking kill you! I want my goddamn cigarettes right now! I have got the _biggest_ fucking craving and I haven't had a smoke all day because I'm low on cash!"

Thorne tried to keep himself from laughing, but it proved to be too much of a challenge.

Nicholas tried to contain his rage, but failed, finally picking up the nearest object and throwing it at him. The cat was coming back into the room when the metal skull came hurtling straight at the door. The skull ricocheted off the floor and scared the cat half to death, causing it to hiss loudly and go darting into the laundry room.

Henrietta stood up, her stiletto boots making her just as tall as her counterpart. "Hey! Shithead! Get out before I _kick_ you out, and I don't think you want to know where this heel is going to end up!"

Nicholas turned around and cursed under his breath, storming out of the room and trying his best to keep his rage under control. Thorne stared at her with wide, frightened eyes, and she stomped on his foot. "You! You get the hell out of here, too!"

"Ah, god damn! Why the fu–"

"Because I'm sick of looking at your ugly purple shoes, ass-face!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

He stumbled to his feet and hobbled out of the room as fast as he could. That just left Cassie and Peter. Henrietta walked over in front of Peter, blocking his route to Cassie. She pointed at the door. "Go on, baby bat. I'll call for you and Thorne when it's time to take Lollipop home."

He nodded and glanced at Cassie, heading for the door. Cassie smiled nervously and waved at him; and he turned around, closing the door behind him. Henrietta turned around and sighed, the anger seeming to roll off her in waves.

"That Thorne…I always forget just how reckless he can be. I should've used my head. Of _course_ Nicky would've gotten that pissed off. But for him to nearly hit Tanith… Ugh. I have no one to blame but myself…"

She looked at Cassie and smiled. "Could you hand me his cigarettes, please?"

Cassie reached down her shirt and pulled out the pack of cigarettes, handed it to the older girl. Henrietta smiled and reached into her corset for her own pack of cigarettes. "Don't ask how these things fit in this, because I'm not sure myself. But here, put this in your bra and Thorne will still get the satisfaction of pissing Nicky off."

Cassie stuffed it down her shirt and looked back up at Henrietta. "Are you and Nicholas going to get married?"

Henrietta burst out laughing. "M-Married!? Why would we do something as unnecessary as that!?"

"W-Well…you both love each other, right?"

Henrietta sighed, placing a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "Lollipop, there's one thing you haven't realized from talking to Nicky yet. His parents got divorced when he was only four, so he has no faith in marriage. He figures that two people can be perfectly happy without it, and I completely agree with him. People can be happy without words, too, you know. And we're perfectly happy the way we are, and that's really all that counts, isn't it?"

Cassie just mumbled a quiet, "Hmmm…" and Henrietta sat back down.

"So, Peter says your parents got into a fight two days ago so he couldn't tutor you that day…"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, I wanted to apologize on behalf of our reckless friend from getting your brother suspended and causing that argument in the first place. I'm sure it probably got you in a tizzy."

Cassie shook her head. "Oh, no. That's fine. My family's always fighting. Me and my brother actually joke about it and say our family's a giant walking scream."

Henrietta laughed. "Well then, welcome to _our_ family, where fights only happen when you steal Nicky's cigarettes… Speaking of Nicky, if you want to win him over, you need to win him over with your taste in music. You said you like The Beatles–well, you should try listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees' version of 'Dear Prudence' and 'Helter Skelter'. I think you'd like them. Some of their songs are pretty upbeat sounding, so it's not hard for someone who likes Mika to like Siouxsie. Another one of his big bands is The Cure. I suggest listening to 'Friday, I'm in Love', 'In-Between Days' and 'Why Can't I Be You'. As for newer bands, he really likes The Killers, so try listening to 'Mr. Brightside' or 'When You Were Young'…"

Cassie gaped. "Wow, he must really like music if that's the only way I'll get him to like me…"

Henrietta smiled and closed her eyes. "Oh yes, he's into music _big_ time. He plays a killer piano, too… You should hear him play; he sounds like…like a crazy music genius."

"He plays his own music?"

"Yes. Most of it sounds all lovey-dovey, though. As much as he hates to admit it. I just tell him it sounds whimsical and mysterious. He's usually satisfied with that answer…"

"Why don't you tell him the truth?"

She laughed. "Are you kidding me? It'll piss him off. He likes to think he doesn't have any of that lovey-romantic emotion in him, so I let him believe he's this emotionless, rational person."

"That sounds boring."

Henrietta just smiled. "So, do you even know _why_ Thorne provoked your brother?"

Cassie blinked, narrowing her eyes at the change in subject. Maybe Henrietta _did_ think it was boring after all? Or maybe this had been her real choice in subject all along? Whatever, it would be best to just roll with it for now.

"Because he likes pissing people off?"

Henrietta laughed. "No, he _actually_ did it to try and get Peter a chance to talk to you, but it failed miserably… Your brother seems to be a bit unhealthily protective…"

Cassie blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Apparently he does this to quite a lot of boys that happen to wander by, according to what Peter's heard from the other boys at school…"

Cassie smiled. "Yeah, but he's just looking out for me."

"You haven't had a single friend for most of your life until six months ago. How healthy can _that_ be? Your brother's almost close to being the type of guy that abuses women emotionally. You know how bad that is, right?

Cassie pursed her lips. "You're doing this to get to my brother, aren't you? You wouldn't be trying to convince me he's this evil guy if you weren't…"

Henrietta raised her eyebrows. "Wake up and smell the reality, Lollipop. Your brother's a royal asshole. I'm just telling you the truth."

Cassie frowned. "No. You don't know the whole story. You're only going by what you hear. You don't know _why_ my brother does it. He does it because my parents have never actually been there for me. He's more of a parent to me than they are–that's why he does that. And since he's a kid, he can't do a very good job at it…but I don't complain. That's just how it is."

Henrietta fluffed her pigtails. "Ah. Now you know why Thorne and Peter hang out with me and Nicky. We're parents enough for them. I think you'd make a good addition to the family, Lollipop."

Cassie raised a brow. "Nah. I'd rather be your friend, not your family."

"And Peter?"

Cassie cleared her throat, searching for words. Henrietta just smiled and fluffed her pigtails again. "Ah! I think I'm going to like you, Lollipop! You're too cute. It's probably time for you to go home now, though. Your brother's probably worried sick."

–––––––––––––––

Craig looked out the window anxiously, looking for hi sister. She hadn't told him anything, so he had no clue where she could be. She wasn't at Jessica's house, because she called an hour ago asking if Cassie could talk. She couldn't have been at school, because she never got in as much trouble as him when it came to the bird problem…

And it couldn't be that she was tutoring at Peter's house, because he was a boy, and he didn't even _want_ to think about that!

And then he saw it–his sister walking with _them_.

Peter and James.

He shivered and stormed to the door, opening it and watching them.

Cassie laughed, flipping through a book of some sort. "So it's about a guy who made a deal with the devil?"

Thorne nodded, pointing at a picture. "Yeah, and that's the douche that killed him!"

She giggled and turned a few pages. "And who's that funny-looking clown?"

"That's Malebolgia's henchman. He's actually a demon named The Violator."

Craig cleared his throat and Cassie looked up. "Oh, hi, Craig! I was hanging out with Peter and his friends! They're so nice! Did you know that Henrietta can tie forty cherry stem knots in three minutes? Thorne says she's incredibly skilled."

Craig raised his eyebrows. "Oh, did he now?" He glared at Thorne. "You want to _lose_ those eyes next time–"

Cassie slapped her brother's hand. "What did Mom say?" Craig rolled his eyes and sighed. He shut up for once.

Thorne smiled and walked in the house, pushing past him. "Nice place you got here… Oh, look Pete! Are these the dogs you told us about?? Which one's the one you were walking?"

Peter smiled shyly at Craig and shuffled past him, grabbing Thorne's arm. "Um…I think we should go… She's home now…so…"

Thorne sighed. "Such a little gentleman. Alright." He winked at Craig and bent down to Cassie. "Hey, Lollipop, we gotta go now. Want to give me a hug?" Cassie smiled and hugged him and Thorne looked up at Craig, rubbing the back of her head. "Awww, such a good girl…"

Craig glared and clenched his fists, earning a snicker from his sister's new friend. Peter just groaned and tugged on Thorne's sleeve. "We really should go…"

Thorne smiled. "Alright…but before we go…I should _probably_ get my cigarettes back." He winked at Craig and stuffed his hand down Cassie's shirt, grabbing a pack of cigarettes and walking out the door.

Cassie pouted and flipped him off. "I could have just given them to you…"

Thorne smiled and held out his hand. "High five, Lollipop."

She gave him a high five and smiled a little, looking at Peter. "See you tomorrow at school, Peter."

He turned bright red and looked at the ground. "S-Sure…"

Thorne gave him a push and he collided with her, causing her to grab him to catch his fall. His face turned even more red and she gave him a hug. "Hee hee. Next time you want a hug, just ask! See you later. Next time we'll_ definitely_ study!"

Peter spun around and hid behind Thorne, nodding his head.

Thorne and Craig exchanged obscene hand gestures and he slammed the door shut on them, face still red with rage and mouth still wide open at Thorne's outright disrespect for his little sister.

"I swear to God that boy's turning into Kenny…"

* * *

1) _**Wood Elf  
**Actually, I don't think I've ever read a book with a wood elf named Thorne in it before. However, with how Wicca-esque it sounds, I wouldn't be surprised if there was one out there that did._

2) _**Lollipop Princess  
**Anyone remember the classic Candyland game? Of course you all do. Yeah; remember Princess Lolly? He's pretty much calling her that. It's a play on that character/name. Pretty much, he's calling her childish and extremely "sweet". Sweet in the bad sense of the term. As in naïve and a tiny bit dim-witted.  
_

3) **_Dark Horse Comics and Vertigo  
_**_Ah. Vertigo is the label that published Neil Gaiman's comics. It's an offset of the DC Comics, so characters from each label often appear in the other's comics. Notice how Thorne mentioned The Sandman? Remember in the last chapter I mentioned the character Death, and how much she sort of resembles Siouxsie? That's the one she is in. She is one of The Endless, and her younger brother is the most prominent in The Sandman comics. He is Dream, and he kind of looks like Robert Smith (The Cure), David Bowie, and Peter Murphy (Bauhaus). He sometimes changes appearances slightly, so yeah. Ironically, Henrietta actually acts very similarly to her (Death, of The Endless), although that's not intentional. That's just how I see her. As for Dark Horse Comics, they published many that are famous, such as Sin City, 300, Hellboy, etc. _

4) _**Mika  
**Mika's hard to describe. Pop, really happy-sounding tunes that sometimes have really depressing lyrics. Although, that's mainly a matter of opinion. The songs are so vague, it's quite possible to see them in a happy light. Basically: Everything Goth is not. Go listen to Lollipop, Grace Kelly, Love Today, and Billy Brown._

5) _**Frank Miller  
**Batman. (What Kenny was teasing him (Thorne) about in the previous fic.) 300. Daredevil. Sin City. SOME of Spawn, issue #11._

6) _**The Brand Nicky Likes  
**Nicholas likes Parliaments. The others like Kool cigarettes. Because that's what they are. And Nicholas has a stick up his ass twenty-four seven. Hence, Parliaments. Actually, that's a lie. The main reason is because Parliaments have a different kind of filter, and I enjoy making him the most non-conforming of them all. Although, it DOES also mean that they're all more manly than him. ;D Yes. Even Henrietta._

7) _**Malebolgia and The Violator  
**In short, Thorne is loaning an eleven-year-old girl his Spawn comics. Who do you think makes the better role model -- Thorne or Nicholas or Craig, her brother? (That's a toughy...)_

8) _**Cherry Stem Knots  
**I'll send you ten bucks in the mail if you seriously don't get what the significance of this is. Hint: She can tie them with her TONGUE.  
_


	7. Nylon

"Hey, Cas! Is Peter still tutoring you, or can we hang out today?"

Cassie turned her green eyes to her best friend. "Sorry, Jessie. I'm going to go hang out with Peter and his friends." The silence seemed to grow and the blonde's smile faded at the irritated expression on her friend's face. "…Is something wrong?"

The redhead just pursed her lips. "I have to pretend I'm this perfect little giggly girl for the first six months after I move here and _you_, the one that _wants_ to be one of those giggly girls, gets to hang out with the Goth kids. I can_not_ believe this! After all I did, you don't even _want_ to be one of those girls anymore?! I even got you an invite to Sharon's slumber party on Friday and everything!"

Cassie gasped. "You did!? Oh, that's wonderful!"

Jessica snapped. "I know! This is finally your chance to show those hussies how much of a girl you are! Don't go and ruin it! Ruin it after you show them a thing or two! That way they'll feel like complete losers for not noticing how much you didn't even _care_ about how they treated you!"

"But…I cared a_ lot_…"

"They don't have to know that, though, do they!?"

Cassie smiled. "Oh, Jessie. I'm so glad I met you when I did… You're a _much_ better friend than any of them could be. I'm happy just having you, you know. I don't give a crap what they think about me anymore, thanks to you."

Jessica grinned. "Oh, so since you've already decided to be a social outcast, can we both raise hell at the slumber party on Friday??"

Cassie grinned. "We can, and will."

"Great! I have to go get a haircut on Friday and pull out all the fishnet from the back of my closet! Oooh! I'm going to make them so friggin' scared!"

The door opened wide open and the sandy-haired girl came out with her friends again. Jessica turned around and dashed off after Sharon. "By, Cas! I'll see you later!" The second she became absorbed in the group, they all began whispering hurriedly.

Cassie smiled and waited patiently for Peter to get there, and after a while, he came out of the school building. He had a sheet in his hand, and it looked fairly important. She smiled and waved, standing up.

"Hi, Peter…"

He looked up and turned red, yanked the paper behind his back. She tilted her head and reached around him, grabbing it. "What's this?" It was a form, requesting a transfer out of some advanced classes. She whistled. "Why are you trying to get out of the advanced classes? You're so smart!"

He turned red and grabbed it from her. "N-No reason… It just…got too difficult for me to keep up with…" After a while, he sighed. "Um, Cassandra?"

She smiled and nodded her head. "Yes?"

"Is it alright if I just go to your house and tutor you? Um…I think it'd be better to get all of this over with…"

Cassie frowned, getting the wrong impression. She cleared her throat a little, fought back tears. "S-So…you don't…want to talk to me anymore?"

His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed, his hands went out in front of him as if in surrender. "N-No! It's just…I don't know when the test is coming up for you since I take advanced English… Also, Nicholas was telling me that it wasn't in good taste to procrastinate…"

Cassie giggled and wiped a tear from her eye, feeling alright again. "That's true… Can we hang out on Thursday, then?" Peter nodded his head and she gave him another hug. "Thank you! I know I'll win your friends over in no time!"

He smiled a little and put a hand on her back cautiously, stood there for a while, entranced. She smiled and grabbed his hand. "Come on! If we're going to get this studying over, we should do it today!"

––––––––––––––

"Well, for The Bells, the poem has many different meanings to it, as long as many different allusions. For instance, in the first part, with the silver bells, you get a distinct feel of Christmas, right?"

She nodded, scribbling it down as he pointed to the passage on the page in her textbook. She was in his court now, so she really could only nod her head and write, leaving him to ramble.

"In the second poem it seems to imply summer; don't you feel the mood there? And in the third the sense of urgency could really only be compared to fall, right? Because it's after summer…?"

She nodded again, although that didn't explain why Spring had been skipped. That was her favorite season.

"Not true. When you read this poem, it's very easy to try and compare it to the different seasons, but that's not what you should do. If you took it literally, there would really only be two seasons–summer and winter. Instead, you have to look at it in terms of life."

She looked up, scratched out all that she'd written about seasons. "Life? Like how?"

Peter smiled and pointed to the first part of the poem. "Christmas has always had a sort of childish feel to it, right? The first part of the entire poem deals with birth and childhood. More specifically, the innocence of childhood."

She gasped. "Oh! That makes perfect sense!"

He smiled and pointed to the second half. "This one is much more obvious because of the first line–mellow wedding bells. This deals with marriage and the happiness associated with it. At the same time, think about old churches: They had one bell in the bell tower usually, right? They would ring it for weddings and for funerals. In a way, you could also look at this part to be a symbol for the death of that innocence you had as a child. It's a death of childhood and a door, somewhat, into adulthood.

"And in the third, it has a panicked feel to it. It's rushed, anxious, scared. This is middle age, and back then people died younger. So, middle age was pretty much what came before death. They'd sometimes skip with the whole elderly part. However, this part pertains to facing one's own mortality. You anticipate it, you fear it, thus, the anxiousness in this part of the poem."

She scribbled that down and pointed at the last part of the poem. "So that has to do with death, right?"

Peter nodded. "Here are the funeral bells. At this point in life, the fear of death has gone, and you accept it with ready arms, as scary as it might be. There's also something many people miss in this one, too. Look at all of the words in this: solemn, melancholy, throbbing, sobbing, moaning, groaning. Those are attributed to people. However, there are also the Ghouls, the demons, so to speak. If you look at the words pertaining to _them_, it gives the entire thing a different meaning: glory, merry, dances, happy."

"Wait, but in the second poem, you mentioned how it was the death of innocence childhood and also gives birth to the new life of adulthood… Shouldn't this last part signify death and the life afterwards that you've achieved? I mean, why else would he put that in there?"

"Because it signifies being conquered by death and the futility of fighting it. The Ghouls were happy to take the life of someone, and nothing else. This poem pretty much shows life played out just as it is. There's finality, there's a permanent end."

Cassie frowned, pouting her bottom lip out a little farther. Her eyebrows rose and slanted, in a half-sad, half-annoyed expression. "But…that's so sad… It's just death and that's it? That's…horrible."

Peter shrugged. "Well, that's Poe. Edgar Allen Poe had depression… It's not that hard to see that he'd write something as depressing as this. I like this poem, though. Through his use of repetition, rhyme and onomatopoeia, he gets the feel of each and every bell and the sounds they make. It's probably one of his best poems…"

She smiled and scribbled the last part of symbolism in the poem. "Yeah, I guess if you look at just the prose, it's a bit better…even if it _is_ depressing…"

She closed her book and stared at her desk for a while, and Peter walked to the door. "Well, do you understand it all yet?"

Cassie looked over at him, frowning. "Sharon invited me to her slumber party on Friday…" Peter turned and looked at her; she was smiling sheepishly, staring at the door. "I've always wanted to be accepted by them…but now it just seems like a hassle… I mean, it'd be great if I became her friend and forgot about how she used to tease me mercilessly…but…"

He blinked and tilted his head a little, staring at his shoes. "Then…shouldn't you at least try it? To be their friend?"

"Yeah…but…what about your friends…?"

"What about them?"

He glanced over at her and their eyes met for a moment until she looked away, eyes misting over slightly. "All I've ever tried to do was fit in. And so far, I've failed every single time I tried. I mean…I don't even have a lot in common with _your_ friends, and I have even less in common with Sharon… I mean, I doubt I'd fit in with your friends, either, you know?"

He frowned. "So? It doesn't matter if you fit in. All that matters is if people accept you, right? You shouldn't have to force it; then they wouldn't_ really_ accept you. They'd just accept what you put on to fool them."

"Yeah…but wouldn't you rather I had more in common with your friends?"

"No."

She looked up, gave him a weird look, and he turned bright red and looked back at his feet. "I mean… I like my friends and all…but…" He looked over to the foot of the door, as far away from her as possible. "–but…I like you more… Y-Your hair is blonde, and you have more of an interest in happy music and fairy tales, and you wear bright colours, and pretty much look nothing like the type of person my friends would be within five feet of…but…it's nice. Th-That's why I was thinking about transferring to the same level as you, so we'd see more of each other, since you're fun to talk to…

"See, even though you're not like us, you're not like _them_, either… So I guess…it's because you're unconventional. And I'm fine with that, so my friends will be fine with that, too…"

He looked up slowly, afraid of seeing a strange expression of disgust and degrading humor on her face, but she was wiping at her eyes and smiling. He bit his lip, realizing she was crying. "Ah! I-I'm sorry! Did I–"

She shook her head and took a deep breath. "You're so nice. Thank you for being my friend, Peter."

The corners of his lips twitched upward slightly and he pulled down on the bottom of his shirt, tugging on it. "S-Same here…"

She laughed. "And you're also really smart, so you shouldn't go out of your way to take less-challenging classes on my behalf. Then you wouldn't be following your own advice. Besides, I'm sure Henrietta would be upset if you did something like that. She seems to be really proud of you…"

He smiled a little and took out the papers from his backpack, all the forms for transferring to easier classes, tearing them up. "Y-You're right… I d-don't know what I was thinking…" He frowned slightly, and his face turned and even darker shade of red.

"Well…b-bye…"

Before she could offer to walk him to the front door and see him off, though, he opened the door and hurried out of the room.

* * *

1) _**"The Bells", by the Poemeister**_  
_This is my own interpretation of it, so you may feel differently. (If you do, I'd love to hear how you interpret it.) In _Mr. Brightside_, Peter also makes a speech about "The Raven", another Poe poem, and I'm fairly sure that one is completely wrong. I haven't read "The Raven" in years, due to the fact that I hate that poem with a passion._

2) _**Fitting In...And All That Jazz**_  
_ I don't know about some of you, but I hope some of you can relate to Cassie. I know I for sure was just like that as a kid (even now). I went to a private school from kindergarten up to the seventh grade, and so I tried to fit in with the people there and failed. (At the same time, I didn't WANT to fit in with them, mainly because they seemed to look down on all the kids there that didn't have enough money to buy clothes from places other than Target or Wal-mart.) And in the ninth grade (I moved to public school) and got grouped into the "Gothic" group, mainly because I didn't know how to talk with people easily, and those were the kids that went out of their way to talk to me. That quickly ended after tenth grade, mainly because all the people in that group I was close to moved away (If you read _Mr. Brightside_, I mentioned a few of them, just so you know; not like I expect any of you to care.) Even now, I'm sort of in-and-out between the "Anime-Game-Cartoon" nerds, and I STILL find them to be a bit too shallow for me. (There's really only four people these days that actually TALK to me about things that are some-what deep. Two of which aren't even in that group.) All they talk about is Naruto and crap, when I'd rather talk about interesting things like psychology and different serial killers and the price of Corn Wheats and Opal Fruits and Gummi Bears and how much the 80's rocked harder than the crap they have today. (Can someone say The Care Bears?) So yeah. I hope some of you can relate to her to some degree, because pretty much everyone feels like this at one point in their life (to varied degrees of course; some feel like this more than others)._

3) _**Fairy Tale Peter and Real Peter**_  
_ I wanted to do two things with this fic: 1) Pair Peter with Craig's little sister, thus creating the conflict between "social classes", and 2) Show something that I experienced a lot as a child. I was an imaginative child, and so sometimes I'd create elaborate fantasies about people I'd met that I wanted to be friends with or crap like that, when in reality it was never that simple. So, in this story, I wanted to show that Cassie's fantasies of how Peter got to know her are nothing like they are in reality. I wanted to show this difference in fantasy and reality. So, in her fantasy, Peter comes out and tells her he likes her, tells her he's watched her for a long time, that he's always watched her and loved her from afar. In reality, Peter simply saw her at lunch or after school a few times and thought something was off with her; he wasn't anything like that creepy stalker-type knight-in-shining-armor type of thing she had been imagining. He became interested in how she really was, and why she was the way she was. In reality, he's not going to be that forward. He's more shy, more subtle. He'd rather first try to give her encouragement, which she, in turn, also gives him. However, he also DOES want there to be a relationship between them, so he gets a bit frustrated with all of her talk of "I want to be your friend," and "Don't do that for me; Henrietta's proud of you". To him it's as if she doesn't GET it, so he gets frustrated and, as shown in the very last sentence, runs home cryin' to his mama. Not really, but he does go home and throw a little fit or something about how she's acting so dense. I never really had a set idea for what he does afterwards. Use your own imagination. ;D_


	8. Tulle

Jessica smiled and pulled her blond friend's hair back into a lopsided bun, letting some hair fall out of the tie. She applied a little more mascara and eyeliner, applied some darker red lipstick and painted her nails shiny black.

"Oh, this will be _so_ much fun, Cas!"

Cassie giggled and pursed her lips, fluttering her eyelashes. "Am I dark enough?"

Jessica laughed and went to the closet. "Wait until you see what I picked out for you to wear."

"What are you wearing?"

Jessica laughed. "Actually, I was hoping it would just be you. After all, everything I've done so far has been for you."

Cassie's eyes dropped, she shook her head. "N-No! I'm too embarrassed! Besides, this isn't me at all… I thought we were doing it for laughs!"

"Yeah, and I'll start dressing up like I normally would on Monday. It's no big deal, Cas. Besides, if anyone gives you shit, I'll make sure to deal with them. Come on; hold out your legs so I can put on the fishnet stockings!"

"Okay!" She smiled and scooted off the seat a little, pointing her feet out as her friend put the fishnet stockings over her calves, over her knees, stopping at her thighs, since she could do that herself when the nails dried.

––––––––––––––––

"Oh! Hey Jessie! Hi…uh…who the hell are _you_?"

Cassie turned bright red and looked over at her friend. Jessica laughed. "This is Cassie, guys! I thought it'd be cute to put her in these clothes! Isn't she _cute_??"

Sharon raised her eye brows skeptically, as did the other eight girls behind her. Sharon made a sound with her tongue and teeth. "Tch. It certainly does_ suit_ her."

Cassie shifted uncomfortably. It didn't sound like a compliment, and some of the girls were snickering. She glanced over at Jessica, who was looking proud of herself. "J-Jessie?"

Jessica turned to her, pushed her inside. "Come on! Let's start the party, girls."

Cassie tripped and fell flat on her face, and all the girls started laughing. One of them, a sister of Patty, went over and helped her up. She laughed. "Jesus, Cassie. Are you alright? I knew you were a boy, but I thought you'd at least learned how to act like the body you were born with by now…"

The other girls started laughing and Cassie felt her heart sink. She didn't care, she_ wouldn't_ care. It just hurt a little; that was all. But it didn't matter; she still had Jessie to back her up. She looked over at her friend, laughed weakly, but Jessie was hiding a smile behind her hand.

She frowned, but decided it wasn't bad enough of a comment for Jessica to step in. So she laughed. "I know, but these darn heels… Ha ha…"

A few of the girls snickered, and Sharon grinned. "Wow! She actually admits it! Say Cassie, are you finally going to get a sex change? Or are you going to sleep with a bunch of guys just so you can feel like you have at least a little of a penis?"

Cassie narrowed her eyes. "Don't make fun of me. We aren't in second grade anymore. I'm just as much of a girl as _you_ are."

Sharon laughed. "Oh dear, don't go _insulting_ me, Cassie!"

Jessica laughed and grabbed her around the shoulder. "Hey, I brought some hair dye. I thought she might like it for her new look!"

Cassie had to do a double take. Her heart rate sped up and her cheeks turned red, eyes widened with panic. "Wait, what? I don't want–"

The other girls squealed. "That's a great idea!!"

Sharon smiled and grabbed her by the arm, dragged her into the bathroom. "That's great! We should do that, Cassie! Black dye… That way you'll have hair that reflects your inner struggle!"

Cassie pulled back, but the other girls pushed her forward. "Wait, Sharon! I don't want my hair to be black! I like it the colour it is right now!!"

Sharon laughed, and Patty's sister chimed in. "Why not? You hang out with the Goth kids. You'd think you'd want black hair like that Peter!"

She looked over at Jessica, who was grinning. "J-Jessica!! Are you going to let them treat me like this!?"

Jessica narrowed her eyes, pointed at her. "Yeah, because I hate you. You're so_ selfish_!"

One of the girls piped up, sounding pissed off and hurt. "Yeah! I mean, honestly! Just when we start to think you're good enough to hang out with us, it turns out you think you're better than we are!"

Cassie sputtered as they threw her into the bathroom. "What!? I don't think that at all!"

Sharon crossed her arms over her chest and popped her hip, leaning on one leg. "Oh? But you think we're shallow, right? We accepted Jessica just fine, even after she said she liked wearing black and fishnet. But you obviously thought we would care, since you told her to stop dressing like that so you'd be able to get close to us."

"I didn't ask her to do anything! She did it on her own!"

Jessica glared. "You're so _selfish_, Cassie. I spent three months pretending to be something I'm not so that _you_ would be accepted by Sharon and her friends, and what's the thanks I get? 'Sorry, I don't want to hang out with shallow girls like that'!? Honestly, do you have _any_ consideration for anyone else other than yourself!?"

Patty's sister put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips, looking somewhat like an angry Persian cat, fat and irate. "Yeah! And what's with complaining about how your family's always fighting, anyway!? My parents fight, and you don't see me crying and trying to distance myself from reality! You really are a loser, aren't you?"

Cassie looked at Jessica, tears worming their way to her cheeks. "Wh-what? You _told_ them about that!? Why did you do that!? I didn't do anything to you!!"

Jessica tossed Sharon the hair dye and sneered. "Exactly. I just gave and gave and gave, and you acted as if I were your servant. I'm sick of you always asking for me to help you. I'm sick of your face, and I'm sick of how you get along with all the boys and act like you're completely_ oblivious_ when they flirt with you! It's not fooling anyone!"

Cassie looked at them all incredulously. "What are you talking about?? What does this have to do with _boys_!? I don't even want a boyfriend right now!!"

Sharon snorted and turned the tap on; the other girls grabbed Cassie and held her against the sink. "Yeah, well don't you think Jessica's better suited for someone like Peter? After all, she _does_ prefer more Gothy-type shit than you do. I mean, _honestly_, if you're going to hang out with Peter, you might as well look the part!"

––––––––––––––––––

She stumbled up the steps to her house and knocked on the door. Craig answered the door. His eyes widened. "What the fuck!? Cassie, what the hell did you do!?"

He reached over and grabbed her hair, ran his fingers through every black hair, took in how much shaggier it was. It was bobbed short.

"What the hell, Cassie!? I told you to stop hanging around with those faggy Goth kids! Mom's gonna _kill_ you!"

She sniffled and smiled a little. "Um…I wanted to try something new… I…I'm sorry Craig… I didn't do it for the Goth kids…"

He looked at her, scrutinized the look in her eyes and the bag in her hands. "You were supposed to be spending the night. D-Don't…Don't tell me_ they_ did this to you!! What about Jessica!? That girl was your best friend!!"

She smiled, waved her hands and tried to convince him she was alright. "N-No, it's okay, Craig! Seriously! I just started crying after they cut and dyed it because I missed my old hair! I asked them to do it, okay!? Please don't get mad at them!"

He eyed her suspiciously. "Why are you home early? It's eleven o'clock, Cassie. You can't honestly say they decided to end the party at this hour."

She smiled and pushed past him. "After they cut my hair, I missed it, so I decided to go home and cope… It's…It's really okay, Craig… Can I just go to bed or something?"

Her mother walked in and dropped the plate she'd been washing. The porcelain shattered when it hit the ground, little shards of white scattered all over the floor, hid themselves in the grain of the wood, the carpet outside of the kitchen. "Cassie!! What the hell did you do to your hair!?" Her father peeked around the corner and his jaw dropped.

"I knew it! She's being pulled into that cult the Cummings boy is in!!"

She screamed. "I did it because I wanted to! Just leave me alone!!"

They fell silent and Craig watched her go upstairs. After a while, he followed her and sat outside her bedroom, listening to her scream in frustration as she tried different ways of making her hair look cute and fail miserably at it–it was much too short to do anything with it now.

Inside, she screamed; outside, she screamed. This was absurd! She could pull it into a small little ponytail, put it up with one of those cute beaded bands that were popular in the nineties, but she looked like a total idiot. She tried her headband, but it was impossible to see against the black hair.

But, that wasn't why she was so upset.

Jessica had betrayed her. She'd wanted Peter all along. Well how could she have known that if Jessica never said anything!? She had said she'd let Jessica have her chance. She promised she'd back off of him, she'd let him see who he liked more.

That _still_ wasn't why she was so upset.

She wiped an angry tear away from her eyes and jumped into her bed. He'd liked her blonde hair. He liked it blonde, not black. He liked it blonde, and she'd had to go squeal about it to Jessica, and now Jessica had hers bleached.

She frowned and pulled on a lock of that black, black hair. Now it looked like she'd done it to try and fit in. He was going to be so disappointed in her.

* * *

1) _**Girls Will Be Girls  
**Sound familiar to any of you girls out there? It should, because little girls are the DEVIL. __Little girls are the cruelest thing in the world simply because they don't always realize how cruel they're being. __They're mean and vindictive and petty and GAH! That's why I hung out with more boys than girls growing up -- GIRLS ARE FREAKING EVIL LITTLE GOBLINS. I'm fairly sure this situation has come up at least once in the life of every single person reading this. I mean, with guys it's easy -- "I punch you; you punch me; and whoever gets knocked out first is the one who's right. Afterwards, we get over it." --, but with girls it's like -- "Hey, bitch. That's MAH man; how DARE you dance all over him like he's yours?? I'm going to spread rumors that you're a fucking lesbian all over school and make your life crap, and if that doesn't work I'll get all my friends to verbally harass you; I'll never forgive you, and if I see you later on in life by another guy I'll claw your fucking EYES out!"_  
_(Yes, I'm a cynic by nature.)_

2) _**Jessica  
**No offense to anyone named Jessica, but all but one person I've ever met named Jessica has turned out to be a total bitch. I've seen so many girls named Jessica be total bitches to me, my friends, other people or even their own friends, that the name Jessica has, for me, turned into the name of someone who is GOING to be bitchy. Even now, these days, if I meet someone named Jessica, I immediately put up my guard around her, because I just KNOW she'll be a bitch. Seriously; there was only one person named Jessica that was actually nice. And she was only visiting someone for a week, and I almost never saw her after that._


	9. Taffeta

Monday came, but Cassie couldn't find it in herself to enjoy it. Usually she sat outside, talking to Jessica, and waited to catch a glimpse of Peter walking into the school; then she'd go into her first period class late and give the teacher some excuse about traffic or something else of that nature.

Instead, she passed by Jessica entirely and tried not to look at her. Jessica had come to school in all black, wearing clothes from that one place called Hot Topic in one of the malls in Denver, where she moved from. Her lipstick was dark, her eyeliner was heavy, her nails were painted shiny black with white tips.

It had taken everything in Cassie to get it off her nails. She hated black. As weird as it sounded, she wasn't fond of that colour at all. It looked cool in comic books, and it looked cool on people like Peter and Henrietta and Thorne and Nicholas, but she hated the thought of wearing that colour. It turned her stomach sour; ever since she entered kindergarten, she hated wearing it.

She passed by Jessica without comment, and Jessica just laughed and continued talking to Sharon, ignoring her, too. Waiting to see if she'd actually leave Peter alone for once, if she really would keep her promise and give her a chance. It was terrible and she felt so pathetic, but she wanted to keep Jessica as a friend more than she wanted to hang out with Peter and work up the courage to tell him she liked him. She had never had a friend before, and so she refused to believe that Jessica's friendship with her was that shallow, was so fragile that all it took was a boy to get between them.

Plus, she didn't want Peter to see her like this. She'd told him she didn't care what those girls thought, and it would kill her to admit she really did. That she let them bully her again. She was pretty sure Jessica had an advanced class, but she wasn't sure if Peter was in it. Hopefully she'd talk to him in that class and he'd fall for her and they'd be friends again.

––––––––––––––––––

"Hey, Peter…"

Her voice was soft, melodic–seductive, almost. He looked up from his book and glanced at her. "Oh…Hi, Jessica. Why'd you…" He trailed off, noticing what she was wearing. He smiled a little. "Oh, so you decided to show your true self? Cassandra was telling me how you schooled her on Gothic subculture…"

Jessica fluttered her eyelashes a bit and Peter leaned back a little, giving her a _look_.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Jessica laughed, loud and crass, almost obnoxiously strained. He narrowed his eyes and grimaced a bit. She pursed her lips and curled a lock of hair around her finger. "I'm _fine_. So, what kind of bands do you like?"

He smiled weakly, glancing over to the door and to the window. "I don't really listen to music that much…"

She smiled. "Really? I like bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Nine Inch Nails, A.F.I…" She smiled at him and he smiled back, wondering to himself if she could get anymore main-stream. For someone who enjoyed schooling people on Gothic subculture, she sure did seem follow the mainstream instead. The trashy, watered-down music that seemed to be plaguing the music business; the music that made "Goth" and "Emo" and "Punk" so hard to tell apart these days. That was one of the main reasons why he hated listening to music–it was all the same exact thing.

"Oh, that's nice…"

She nodded her head and looked at the book he was reading. "What are you reading?" She giggled and pulled it out of his hands, much to his dislike, and looked at the cover. "Oh! Edgar Allen Poe! Oh wow! I love him, he's my favorite poet! _My_ favorite poem is 'The Raven'."

Peter smiled a little, taking it back from her as gently as possible so as not to offend her. "Most of his poems are crap. I like his short stories instead. I can count the number of his poems I like on my hand."

She feigned interest. "Are you serious? Which ones are those??"

Peter smiled weakly and counted them off on his hand. "'The Bells', 'Annabel Lee', 'Serenade' and the 'Conqueror Worm'."

"You don't like 'The Raven'?"

Peter chuckled. "He could have shortened it and still have gotten the same meaning across. Like I said, most of his poems are crap because he tries to put too much in a single poem. He's better at written prose than poetry."

She nodded and stretched a little, smiling. "I thought he was a poet… But about the putting too much into something bit, I know what you mean; most of the crap these days is in bad taste. Like Radiohead? Oh my God, talk about lame… What kind of movies do you like?"

He looked back down at his book, eager to get back to reading, but couldn't refuse her and be rude. He shrugged and glanced at her a little, face just as blank as it had been for a while. "I don't watch movies that much. I prefer reading to movies."

She laughed. "So true! See, some of my favorite movies are _Donnie Darko_ and _The Crow_, but I also like old-school movies like _The Breakfast Club_ and stuff like that."

He looked at her, narrowed his eyes, and closed his book. "Did you even listen to what I said? I said I don't watch movies that much."

She smiled and nodded, running a hand through her hair and trying to look somewhat seductive. "Do you like my hair? I think it's a bit too light for me, but it's pretty cool. Don't you think?"

That did it.

He cleared his throat, shrugged his shoulders. "Actually, I think the colour washes out your face too much. You should have kept it red, since blonde hair isn't a good look for people with light skin like you. I think that you should stop bitching about bands like Radiohead being too main-stream until you listen to the music you like. Maybe then you'd see how much of a hypocrite you're being. Also, you try too hard to be Goth, considering you claim that Edgar Allen Poe is your favorite poet when you didn't even know he wrote short stories, and the fact that you only like bands that have been around in the past eight or ten years. All in all, I'd have to give you a star rating of one out of five. The only thing that makes you worth talking to is the fact that it's given me an example of a shallow person for future generations…"

Her jaw dropped, and she narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me? That's pretty funny for you to say when I taught Cassie about Gothic subculture. You have me to thank for that."

Peter smiled. "It's funny for _you_ to say that since she's grasped that concept more than you have."

She scoffed and stood up. "And what's so bad about my hair? Cassie said you _liked_ blonde hair!"

Peter shrugged, and his cheeks turned slightly pink. He returned to his book to retreat from this confrontation since he was a bit shy when it came to arguing with people. "You must have misunderstood her. I said I liked blonde hair because it suited her. It doesn't suit you, as does this whole façade you've built around yourself at being some cool, unique Goth when really all you are is someone looking for a trend to follow."

"Who the hell do you think you are!? Don't act like you're better than me!!"

He shrugged. "I don't think I'm better than you. I just think you're the type of person who follows trends. Is that so bad? Lots of people live perfectly happy lives like that and don't feel empty at all…"

She sneered. "Cassie's gonna be so pissed at you for talking to me like this! I hope you enjoy being rejected, because when she hears about this you're screwed!"

He looked up at her, tried to keep his hand from shaking too obviously. His words were slow, calculated. He had to make sure not a hint of worry was in his voice. "By the way…why are you bringing Cassandra into this? She has nothing to do with my opinion of you."

He received a slap in the face and the glares of practically every girl in the classroom. Some of the guys started snickering, but Peter ignored it. He'd dealt with worse before, after all. This was hardly worth his concern. His only concern was finding Cassie first and explaining himself to her before Jessica got there and started rattling out a bunch of shit that may or may not have happened.

––––––––––––––

When school let out, Peter walked out to the front of the school building and looked around. Cassie was nowhere to be found, and usually she stayed there and waited for him to come out; she'd wave to him and say hello, and he'd get a warm feeling in his chest.

But she wasn't there.

Sharon walked out of the door behind him with her group of girls. To his surprise, Jessica was with them, talking animatedly. Usually she waited with Cassie and would meet up with Sharon when the girl and her posse came out the building.

He walked over and tapped the ex-redhead on the shoulder. She whirled around, saw who it was and soured up real fast. He bit his lip, clenched his fists and tugged on his shirt anxiously. "Wh-Where's Cassandra?"

She laughed. "Oh, I told her how much of an ass you were being to me and she thinks you're a complete asshole. She's already on her way home, and she hates you now."

He blinked, narrowed his eyes. "Wouldn't she be consoling you? That doesn't sound like her…"

Jessica sneered and walked off; some of the girls in the group were snickering. One with long black hair and a fairly portly look to her–she was related to some freshman girl named Patty or something–giggled, mumbling something so faint he could hardly hear it. "Poor thing hasn't said a thing to you, Jessie, ever since we cut it all off…"

Jessica waved her hand, speaking to both Peter and Patty's younger sister. "People change."

It made some sense, but the cryptic words kept ringing in his head. Cut _what _off? People didn't change over the course of a weekend. Not that severe of a personality change–it was like she didn't even care about Jessica anymore.

He watched them go, and felt his heart begin to sink. He felt dizzy, and his stomach was turning flip-flops. There was definitely something not right here, and it had something to do with that slumber party. He just knew it. Regardless, he needed to go talk to her and explain himself, if Jessica was telling the truth. It was really weird, too, since she had told him on Thursday that she wanted to hang out with his friends on Monday. Because of it, he'd asked Thorne to go on ahead to Henrietta's house without him. So why wasn't she here?

His body was moving before his mind did. Before he knew it, he was walking down the sidewalk in the direction of the Harris household, hoping everything was really okay. Craig would have noticed something, so even if she refused to talk to him, he could always ask her brother. Even though he didn't seem to like any of the Goth kids, much less him.

His eyes were down, as they always were, and at one point he caught sight of Cassie's shoes. He knew they were hers because they had a unicorn painted on the side with acrylic paint. It was sloppy, obviously something she'd done to an old pair of sneakers in elementary school. He lifted his head to double-check and froze in his tracks.

Her _hair_. It was short and black. Shorter than Henrietta's and blacker than Thorne's, which was kept dyed and in good maintenance. A newly-dyed black look.

"C-Cassandra?"

She sped up, and he knew it was her. What the hell had happened to her? He walked after her, grabbed her arm and pulled, causing her to spin around and face him. He looked at her face, noticed the trembling lips in a tight line and the squinted eyes as if she didn't want to cry.

"…What's wrong?"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Finally, she shook her head and turned back around, began walking again. He frowned, knitted his brows together and tried again. Except this time, he grabbed her hand.

This time, he was the one to drag her off to his home.

––––––––––––––

She stumbled in the door after him...the little Goth that was almost livid, if one could call him that. To anyone else, he would have been merely agitated, but for him, it was livid. When she stumbled in, a relaxed voice met her ears.

"So that's what your brother meant today… Wonder what happened…"

She looked up to see Thorne, staring at her and giving her the blandest expression he could muster. He was actually fairly interested in her reasoning behind the change in hair, although he tried to keep it discreet. Henrietta looked at her and immediately sensed something was wrong. She stopped petting the cat and sat up straighter, looking over at her with mild interest.

It was Nicholas that spoke next. "That's a pretty good look on you, you know… You shouldn't be so upset…"

Peter wheeled on him. "Avery, be quiet. This is no time for your biased opinions."

Nicholas sneered and shifted his weight off the wall and walked over to her, standing in the middle of the room, and placed a hand on her head. He sighed, not even believing he was about to say what was on his mind this time. "Hey, cheer up, Lollipop."

When she burst into tears, he grimaced and retracted his hand, walking over toward Henrietta. He mumbled. "It wasn't my fault…" Henrietta simply nodded toward him and pouted a little. Peter just stood there, frowning and fidgeting with his shirt. Thorne was still somewhat relaxed, but he'd sat up a little bit more, too.

Henrietta stood up and opened the door. "Alright, boys. It's girl time. Come on. Especially you, Nicky–I know you don't want to see her cry." Thorne immediately left, and Nicholas followed soon after, complaining about needing a smoke, but Peter stood rooted to the spot. She sighed and touched his shoulder. "Come on, baby bat…"

"N-No. She needs me."

Henrietta chuckled and rolled her eyes, walking over to the door and closing it. "Alright, baby bat. Your nobility is really admirable…" She walked over and pulled Cassie over to the bed. "Come on, Lollipop. Let's give you something to lean on…" She wrapped an arm around her shoulder and sighed, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

Cassie curled up and sniffled. "I didn't want them to… I liked my hair…the way it was…but they kept saying… They said if I were going to hang out with Peter, I might as well look the part…"

Henrietta shushed her. "Girls your age are so petty… Don't let it get to you."

"But I can't help it! He said blonde hair suited me, and he liked it, and now it looks like I'm just trying to fit in with all of you! I don't want to start wearing all black… I hate wearing black…"

Peter walked over and sat on the other side of Henrietta, twiddled his thumbs nervously. "W-Well… I actually just meant that I didn't mind if you had blonde hair… I mean…black hair looks good, too… I just meant that, um…I…liked you no matter how you looked or how you were…"

"Yeah, but now my dad thinks I'm just going to join your cult or something! All he does now is badmouth you guys…"

Henrietta laughed. "What else is new? Everyone rips on us. We're just the Goth kids. That's pretty much it. Don't let that bother you."

"B-But he doesn't understand any of you at all… He doesn't know how nice you all are…"

Henrietta laughed. "Well, by all accounts, we're pretty mean sometimes so he's not completely false about that…"

"Yeah, but…I want Jessica to stay my friend…and if I hang out with Peter, it won't happen… She seems to think I'm standing in the way of her getting Peter to like her, so she wanted me to stop talking to him…"

Peter frowned, clenched his fists. "Yeah, well Jessica's a dumb bitch. You shouldn't be friends with shallow girls like her… And she can just give up, because I'd never like someone as self-absorbed as her…" Henrietta put a hand on his head, shaking her head at him.

"Baby bat, as much as we're her friends, we can't take the place of a girl her own age. I still remember how much I wanted a girl my own age to hang out with…but I was stuck with all of you idiots."

She laughed and patted him on the head, turned her attention back to Cassie. "Lollipop, you continue trying to be her friend…but don't stop hanging out with Peter. Eventually she'll have to make a choice between you two, and if she picks you, then you know she's a keeper. If not, let us know and I'll get Nicky to kick her ass…" She laughed again, jokingly, of course, but it was still unclear whether she had been serious or not.

Cassie sniffled. "Yeah…but…when we first met, she said she'd been left out as a kid, too… And she said she wanted to help me be accepted, because she wanted to see me happy. So she decided to act all girly and nice to get them to think I was cool, too…"

Henrietta smiled. "Well then, it sounds like she just let that popularity get to her head. Don't worry about it. I'm sure if you stay the way you are, she'll eventually realize how stupid she's being. And if she doesn't, then it's no big deal. At least you have Peter."

Cassie nodded and wiped the tears out her eyes. "I should probably go home now…"

Peter stood up and held out his hand. "Um…I'll walk you home…" She took his hand and stood up, wiping some of the remaining tears sticking to her face away with her free hand. She glanced back at Henrietta and fell into her, giving her a hug.

"Thanks…"

Henrietta smiled and mussed the younger girl's hair. "Any friend of baby bat's is a friend of mine, Lollipop. 'Sides, it'd be nice to have another girl around here every once in a while." She turned to Peter. "Make sure she gets home safe, alright?"

Peter nodded and took her hand, dragging her out the door. Once outside, they passed by Thorne and Nicholas, who were talking amongst themselves about music and the differences between genres.

"Look, all I'm saying is I can't tell the difference between The Cure and most eighties bands. All of the singers sound exactly alike…"

Nicholas sneered. "You_ wouldn't_, would you? You'd rather listen to shit like The Misfits and Skinny Puppy. And for your information, there isn't anybody in this world that has Smith's voice. So you can't say shit about the singers sounding the exact same."

The shorter of the two brushed the bangs out of his eyes and took a drag from his cigarette. "Better than that shit _you_ listen to! Both of my favorite bands have a completely different way of presenting their songs and playing their music! What about you? The Cure? Blaqk Audio? Tears For Fears? They all sound the exact fucking same. And don't even get me started on how Skinny Puppy _is_ one of the classics."

Nicholas rolled his eyes. "The Cure has quite a few songs that sound different than their others. And Skinny Puppy's industrial crap. Not worth listening to. "

"At least their songs have more meat than the songs that pussy Roger, or Robert, or whoever he is that does vocals for The Cure, sings. He sounds like he's constantly sobbing while he sings. Aaauuuh. Ooouhhh. What the hell is up with that? He's a pussy."

Nicholas quirked a brow and sighed. "Well, I can't really argue with that… He _does_ always sound like he's about to start sobbing mid-song…" He then pointed at Thorne, at his hair and at his clothes. "And what would that make _you_? After all, you look like you're trying to be his clone or something…"

Thorne shrugged. "So? I can like how someone looks without having to like how they _sound_."

Nicholas narrowed his eyes and took the last drag from his cigarette. "Yeah, but music is about the _sound_, not the appearance, you ignorant douche…" He spit the butt out of his mouth and crushed it under his heel into the cold, white snow. He glanced over and noticed the two little ones beside them.

"Oh, I see Pinky stopped crying."

Cassie groaned. "So when I'm _not_ suffering you go back to calling me that? Why can't you call me Lollipop like your other friends?"

Thorne leaned over and put a hand in front of his mouth, blocking the sound from carrying over to the side Nicholas was standing on. "He's just living up to his non-conformist reputation. Don't mind him. Besides, I think he's using that name affectionately now, so don't think he's being mean."

Cassie gave Nicholas a smile and started walking away, letting Peter trail behind her. The two older boys watched them for a while, until they reached the end of the street. Then, Nicholas lit up another cigarette and took a short puff. "You know I heard that… And for your information, I wasn't living up to any _reputation_; I just _happen_ think Pinky suits her better than Lollipop…"

Thorne shrugged and took a drag from the cigarette he was close to finishing–he knew how to pace himself from lack of monetary resources all the time, unlike Nicholas. "I'm not the one that listened to hip hop for four days straight for some stupid dance-off, sucka. You ain't got nothin' on me."

Nicholas eyed him, giving him a dirty look and pursing his lips together, indignantly. "I fucking hate you."

–––––––––––––

_He was standing so close to him, he could smell the nicotine and whiskey on his breath. "Look, I don't like you, and you don't like me, but my sister's been acting weird and she cut her hair, so I think it has something to do with this party she went to last Friday. She told me on Thursday she'd be hanging with you guys after school today, so I'm warning you–be nice to her. You got that?"_

_Thorne gave him a wry grin, pushing Craig's face away from his. "Alright, Chief, but buy some breath mints and back off, alright? I wasn't planning on being mean to her any time soon. Your sister's pretty cool."_

_Craig waited for an obscene comment, and gave a sigh of relief when it never came. "Good, just be nice to her and let her cry if she needs to. I have a feeling she's been holding back all weekend."_

Craig sighed, staring out the window. If Cassie was even more depressed than before, Thorne would have hell to pay. Hell, _all_ of the Goth kids would have hell to pay. What the hell was so appealing about Cassie anyway? She was nothing like them, didn't like anything they did; so why the hell were they hanging out with her as if she was one of them?

A figure stepped onto the driveway and Craig perked up. It was his sister. Close behind, he saw Peter. The hair on the back of his neck stood up when he realized what was going on.

He was walking her home. Unsupervised.

His over-protective big-brother mode kicked in and he puffed out his chest almost subconsciously, narrowed his eyes to make himself look more menacing. There was no way that kid would reach first base with _him_ around.

He watched them with the intensity equal to that of a guard dog watching a man in a ski mask.

His sister smiled and hugged him, waving to him. After a moment he tugged on her sleeve and she looked back at him. His eyes fell to his shoes, and his face lit up. She just laughed and said something very faint, that he couldn't hear through the door or window, and the pale little boy looked back at her, smiling shyly. After a moment he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She blushed and turned around to the door.

–––––––––––

He kicked at the tiny concrete porch and stared at his feet. "Um… Cassan– C-_Cassie_? Um… Uh… Well, I just…I just wanted to, uh…to–to tell you…"

She giggled and gave him a smile. "It's okay, Peter. I heard you when we were over at Henrietta's house. I like you, too."

He looked up and smiled at her. He leaned over real quick and kissed her on the cheek, turning bright red almost immediately afterward. She giggled and turned around to the door, which opened up in an instant. She looked up at her brother, and Peter looked up, scooted away as if he were about to dart down the walkway and run away, but Craig nodded his head.

"Hey. You take care of her, alright?"

He blinked and looked back at Cassie, who looked as if she were about to start bouncing up and down with delight. He gulped and looked back up at the tall, husky football player in the doorway. He nodded pathetically, and Craig gave him a bright smile, pushing his sister into the house.

"Good, because if you don't, I'll fucking kill you."

Her brother slammed the door on him, and Cassie threw the curtains away from the window and waved to him, blowing him a kiss. He smiled and waved back, headed down the street. The smile never left his face on his way home.

* * *

1) _**Jessica's Music**__  
Yeah. Don't get offended by me or anything and start defending your favorite bands with harsh words and shit. I'm telling you right now -- I listen to all of those bands. (Except Nine Inch Nails. They can go get in a plane crash or something for all I care. Flame me about that band if you want, but not any of the other bands.) What I wanted to show was that the Goth kids are "old-school" Goth. Jessica, however, is definitely into the newer stuff that is most popular these days. The real point that I wanted Peter to show is that he and his friends like music that breaks the norm. Well, back in the day, those so-called "Goth" bands all broke the norm; the bands these days are really only following in their footsteps. And yeah, A.F.I. has developed its own sound (and now is called emo all the time) and My Chemical Romance has some things that sound different, but really -- Music has been organized so critically that now the only thing that differentiates an "emo" band from a "Goth" band is the fact that "Goth" bands have a darker feel to them. Going by the standards these days, The Cure could easily be labeled "emo", simply because their music doesn't have such a dark sound and most of the lyrics are about sadness. But The Cure isn't, only because they were before the whole shitty "emo" genre, at least, what people THESE days consider "emo". The significance of these bands isn't to show that Jessica likes bands that are crap; it's to show that the bands she likes are popular, and that, shown by how she acts, she's really into them simply so she can follow a trend.__  
(Okay, so Nine Inch Nails isn't THAT bad. I like Closer.)_

2) **_Tears For Fears?_**  
_Pretty much --80's, 80's, 80's. When I say Tears for Fears, I mean their other songs like "Woman in Chains" and stuff like that. (You know, the crappy songs?) And as for Blaqk Audio: they're circa last year or so, but their music sounds like the type of stuff you'd hear in the 80's. (I actually thought they were an 80's band when I heard "Stiff Kittens". Ha ha.)_

3) _**Sobbing Sounds**_  
_I was listening to The Cure one day, trying to figure out what makes Robert Smith's voice so distinct, and I came upon the realization that he has that, "Oh God, I think I'm about to start crying" sound to his voice. Am I crazy? Is that just me? My best friend starting saying how there was something about The Cure that made her hate them, and I asked her if it was because Smith always sounds like he's sobbing while he sings, and she went crazy -- "THAT'S IT! HE DOES!! OH! I HATE HIS FUCKING VOICE! AAAUUURGHHHH!" Any of you who listen to The Cure, listen to them RIGHT NOW and tell me if that's what he sounds like. Seriously. I swear I'm not just crazy or something..._

4) _**Smith Clone**_  
_For the longest time I thought Thorne looked so familiar, and then one day I was randomly scrolling through a bunch of songs on YouTube, looking for something to do because I was bored as hell, watched a video by The Cure and went, "SHIT! Why didn't I notice that before!?" Harr harr. Actually, his hair isn't EXACTLY like Smith's. Smith's is like FSHOOM EVERYWHERE, while Thorne's is just MESSY MESSY MESSY WE DON'T KNOW WHAT SCISSORS ARE OR HOW TO USE THEM. He has a fringe, yeh, but he always reminds me of Robert Smith, probably because of his clothes. It's the queerest thing, really. I really don't know why, but Thorne just reminds me of Robert Smith... Any of you get that feeling? Maybe I'm the only one. xD (God, I must be having another manic moment or something.)  
_

5) _**You Got Nothin' On Me**  
Episode 805. Straight up, G._

6) _**"Pretty In Pink", by The Psychedelic Furs  
**Yeah. The song's lyrics only loosely have the same plot as this fic (Unlike Mr. Brightside), but the main reason why I like choosing songs for story titles is because I can end up choosing some that have nothing to do with anything other than it has the same FEELING I tried making the story evoke. This is one of those stories, you see. I don't know, but the song sort of makes me feel somewhat sad, and at the same time it sounds so laid-back that it's kind of calming._


	10. Epilogue Plainsong

After school, Cassie took a deep breath and glanced over at Peter. "Um…you want to walk me home?" She smiled, hesitant and shy at first, but Peter returned the gesture, leaning over and giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Okay. Besides, you were going to talk to Jessica today, right? I guess you'll need me for support…or something…" He looked down at his shoes and blushed, his cheeks turning pink.

After a moment, she reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it a little. "Thanks…" He mumbled a quick, "No problem," but trailed off dumbly, losing his voice. He was too worried about sweating. That was gross, right? Sweating all over someone's hand? It was like something a smelly old pervert would do.

She tugged on him a bit and walked out the door. Sharon was walking off with her friends, Jessica included. Cassie took a few deep breaths and called out her friend's cherished nickname.

Jessica turned around and sneered. "What do you want? You've got Peter. Don't tell me you're selfish enough to think you deserve to be in our group…" Some of Sharon's friends snickered along with Sharon herself, giving Cassie a victorious smile.

Cassie swallowed the lump in her throat and stared straight into her ex-friend's eyes. "I don't. I just want you to know…that I think it's childish how you started out trying to be kind to me, and instead wound up becoming just like all those girls that bullied you in elementary school. So it's okay if you hate me. Just…think about what you've turned into, okay?"

She turned bright red and took a few quick breaths, hoping not to make it too obvious she was terrified the entire time. She squeezed Peter's hand and hastily walked in the direction of her house, with him trailing after her.

Sharon just scoffed. "Ch, whatever, loser. Come on Jessica. Let's go." She and her group of friends turned in the opposite direction, toward the road leading to the mall, leaving Jessica rooted to the intersection, staring off into space and thinking.

After a long, long pause, she made her decision, broke into a light run.

"Hey guys! Wait up!"

––––––––––––

Thorne grinned and stepped off the bus, glanced back at Nicholas and Henrietta. "I can't believe you managed to get him to school today!"

Henrietta laughed and put an arm around the taller boy, mussed his curly hair and gave little kisses on his cheek, playfully. "I have my methods, Thorne…" He just sneered and waved his hand away from her. After a moment she draped it back over him again and leaned over to his ear, whispered something.

His cheeks turned slightly pink and he spun around to face her, escaped from her clutches as he backed up. "N-No! Absolutely not! That's just sick, Henrietta, even for _you_!" Henrietta just laughed and shrugged her shoulders. Thorne looked between them and chuckled. Well, Nicholas sure seemed a lot less tense ever since those two got together; and when Nichols was tense, it was a bad, _bad_ thing.

A crazy impulse shot over his synapse, and he felt the compulsion to act on it. So, he grabbed Henrietta's hand and pulled, making her do a spin into his chest. She looked up at him, puzzled, and Thorne glanced at Nicholas, grinned like a maniac.

He looked back down at Henrietta, lowered his head to capture her lips in a kiss. "Heh heh. If Nicholas isn't willing, _I_'d be willing to stand in for him…" As he pulled back, he could see a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

However, before he could do anything more, a fist collided with his face, right in the nose; he stumbled, releasing Henrietta as he fell backward. Nicholas glared down at him, grabbed Henrietta's arm. "Don't you fucking _dare_ do that again. She's _far_ too stunning for a dick like you."

Henrietta gave Thorne a worried smile and waved at him as Nicholas dragged her off down the street from the bus stop, to his house. Nicholas turned his head and glared at him lying there, by the bus stop. "Jesus, Thorne. Could you _get_ any more like Kenny?" The moment the words were out of his mouth, he spun around and began walking away faster.

Thorne simply laughed and got up, wiping the blood off his nose. He'd have to tell that one to his "lunch friend" when he snuck out to their little hiding spot in the bushes, where they liked to smoke and talk.

* * *

_I MAY do a sequel for this story involving Kenny, Thorne, Damien, and a whole mess of crazy, like Satan's obsession with small dogs (since he's gay and I'm all about stereotypical humor like that) and Damien setting Nicholas's shoes on fire any chance he gets. However, the idea's fairly askew, because I'm not sure if I should pair Thorne with Kenny or not. I think I like it with them being friends and shit, but them paired together also makes my heart melt. What do you all think? IF I'm able to make a sequel, would you rather have Thorne and Kenny paired together or just friends? Either way, Kenny's going to be a sexing SOMEONE up, though I'm not sure who, yet._

_The biggest problem (aside from the whole pairing issue) with making a sequel would be the whole Jessica issue, because Cassie would definitely appear there, and since I wanted to leave Jessica's choice open for interpretation, not mentioning her at all in order to leave it open would simply make you all assume that she decided NOT to be Cassie's friend. (To be honest, I didn't actually have either party in mind, concerning who she ran after. As far as I know, she could have run after a pack of cats and jumped off the face of the earth.)  
_

_Please read and review. Give me your answers. I already started writing the first chapter of the "sequel"; I'm just unable to continue because I can't make up my mind. At all. _


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